A Chance Taken
by garrod
Summary: This is my version of what happened after Sly 3. It's also serving as a prologue for my story, 'Some things never change.' Enjoy and let me know what you think!
1. A Chance Taken

This is my version of what happened after the conclusion of Sly 3. I'm considering this to be the prologue to my story- "Some Things Never Change".

**Like everyone else here, I don't own Sly Cooper, though the original characters do.**

**Please enjoy and tell me what you think!**

A chance taken, a gift given- that's what happened in the final moments before the Cooper vault collapsed on itself, burying with it both the Cooper Clan's legacy and the maddening desires of Dr. M.

"Who am I?"

Carmelita took a deep breath before she answered and realized that this would be her last chance. Would she give in to her pride and dignity or go with her heart, which seemed to be screaming at her to take the chance? She knew Cooper had feelings for her. It was obvious now that his past flirtations with her weren't just a way for him to escape the law and make her look foolish in front of her superiors, but that there was true feeling behind them. That point was made crystal clear to her the moment Cooper jumped in front of her, protecting her from that mad doctor's laser blast, risking his own life to save hers. If his flirting had been self-serving, then he wouldn't have risked his life to save the cop who had been mercilessly pursuing him for years. This revelation made her heart leap with joy- someone cared for her, really cared for her. She knew that she had the love of her family, but this was different, being a career-oriented woman left little time for socializing and one wouldn't have considered Carmelita the soft feminine type at work, so she really never felt what it was like to have someone else care about her, deeply care about her and make her feel like someone special. Granted, it was the renowned thief Sly Cooper, but still, he had real feelings for her. She finally gave in and admitted to herself that she had feelings for the ringtail: they seemed to have solidified when she saw Sly getting crushed in the jaws of that mutant abomination and acted, luckily saving him from that deadly fate. Carmelita's feelings were now getting the best of her again, as she held the head of the man who had saved her life, yet again, and pondered what course of action she should take. An idea crossed her mind, as her lips curled into a slight smile, and she decided that she would take the chance her heart so desperately wanted her to take and her inner cop so vehemently opposed: so, screwing up her courage, Carmelita said those fateful words:

"You're my partner, Constable Cooper."

It was a simple action, but a powerful one nonetheless. Carmelita never thought that she would be the one to take the first step toward ending this cat and mouse game that her and the attractive thief had played for years, but she did and now they weren't fighting each other on opposite sides of the law, but had the chance to come together and work as one. Carmelita did feel a little guilty though. Sly seemed to have amnesia due to the blow he took for her sake, and she didn't want to take advantage of him in this state. But she couldn't pass this chance up: she knew that the two of them were too stubborn to ever let their true feelings be known otherwise. The vixen just hoped beyond hope that Sly felt the same way and would agree to this gift of a new life, even if he may not know it at the time.

"Well partner, maybe we should get out of here."

Sly's answer seemed to be the result of the amnesia Carmelita thought he suffered. In fact, Sly did have a temporary lapse in memory after his heroic attempt to save his ladylove, but was blown back to his senses when he heard Carmelita's answer to his question. He was equally shocked as she was to realize that the alluring inspector before him had made the first move to end their little game of cops and robbers. Sly had some time to examine his life and the choices he made as he saw it flash before his eyes whilst in the grips of that horrible monster, and realized that the gift this brave woman was offering him now was what he desired most in the world. He had already proven himself in the Cooper vault and knew that he had made both his father and his ancestors proud of his accomplishments. Sly also had the feeling that his father's love for him was so strong that he would rather have his son take this new path that would guarantee his happiness than stay on his current one for the sake of family pride. Sly did feel guilty, realizing that he would probably have to continue to fake having amnesia and lie to his Carmelita, but he wasn't entirely sure if she would accept him if she knew that he remembered who he was. Besides, he knew that he would have to tell her the truth one day if he wanted to truly have what his heart desired.

So, with so much being said in a few little sentences, Sly and Carmelita escaped the collapsing stronghold and began the long walk back to where the Interpol ships were docked. While they were walking along a stretch of beach, Sly noticed a glimmer coming from a small crack in some rocks, realized what it was and decided to leave his friends a message and let his lady know where he really stood with her.

"I meant to ask this earlier, but I figured it could have waited until we weren't being crushed by falling rocks," Sly said, his wit still intact, Carmelita noted, "but what kind of getup am I wearing partner?"

Carmelita thought fast, not wanting to cause her new companion to lapse back to his old memories, thereby loosing him again.

"You were undercover as one of the criminals that worked here so we could bring down this operation from the inside."

Sly was impressed with Carmelita's quick thinking, one of the many assets that he had always admired in her.

"Well, since the mission seems to be a success, do you mind if I got rid of a few of these things?"

"Not at all."

Sly took his cane and stuck it straight into the ground near the crack in the rocks where he saw the Cooper family fortune glistening in the setting sun. He then placed his leg bag and one of his calling cards on the cane to both let the gang know what happened to him and that he appreciated their work and their friendship (and there was no better way to show his appreciation than paying them with his family's fortune). As the realization of what he was doing hit him, Sly felt bad that he wouldn't have a chance to let his two good friends, his brothers really, know why he had made this decision (though he felt that Bentley and probably even Murray would figure it out). The raccoon hoped that one day he could be part of their lives again, while a little part of him wondered if he was making the right decision….

"You ready to go partner?"

Sly smiled as he looked towards Inpsect…no, his partner, Carmelita and thought 'It's totally worth it!'

Carmelita looked in awe as she saw Sly leave what made him Sly Cooper on the beach and couldn't believe that he was willing to give all of that up for her. She didn't have an esteem problem, she just never experienced this kind of love before.

"I guess I'll change out of these clothes when we get back to the ships, unless you want me to just remove them now..." Sly playfully teased as the Interpol ships finally came into view in the distance.

'As tempting as that sounds, I'll have to decline,' thought Carmelita. "I'm sure you could wait until we're back onboard," she told him.

"Fine, I guess I'll go au natural some other time."

A large smile spread over Carmelita's face at the thought of that future proposition, though she hid it from Sly.

Once onboard the ship, Carmelita found Sly some new clothes and a duffel bag in which he could place his old clothes. After he had changed into nice fitting blue jeans, a white tank top and a blue jacket, Sly came above deck and stood next to Carmelita as she leaned against the ship's railing and watched Kaine island fade away into the distance. She looked at her new partner and smiled.

"Looking good."

"Yeah, I know, but I think the look will be complete when I take off this mask."

"No, leave it on, I think it suits you well." Carmelita wanted to let him keep at least one part of his old life, besides, it was true, he looked sexier with it on.

"Whatever you say, partner." Sly was humbled to know that Carmelita wanted him to keep at least one piece of his old life.

The two of them stood next to each other as the remnants of Sly's old life drifted away in the horizon as the ship carried them towards their new life together. Carmelita smiled as she watched the gorgeous South Pacific sunset with her new partner and thought to herself, 'I told you that I'd get you one day ringtail!'


	2. Getting Settled

No one said living your dreams would be easy.

Chief Barkley was shocked when he saw Carmelita Fox walk into the Parisian Interpol offices with Sly Cooper. He almost had a coronary when he saw Carmelita Fox walk into the Interpol offices with Sly Cooper not in handcuffs. He then had to hold his hand over his chest to prevent himself from having a heart attack when Carmelita left Sly Cooper in her office and then came into his office to ask that Sly Cooper be put on the force.

Now, Barkley was Carmelita's mentor, but unlike his protégé, he had enough experience to know that not everything can be dealt with as right or wrong. The Chief was extremely familiar with Sly Cooper's file (Carmelita having gone through it with him many times) and he knew that the man never stole from law abiding citizens, but rather victimized other criminals (he thought that this may have had something to do with the horrible circumstances of his childhood and felt a moment of sympathy toward the man). He knew that there were worse criminals than Cooper out there. In fact, he was pretty sure that Cooper had been instrumental in the arrest of some pretty dangerous characters, but he also knew that Cooper had still been a thief and a black mark on Interpol's arrest record and that the press would have a field day with that.

Carmelita countered with the fact that it seemed that Cooper has amnesia and that he was unaware of his criminal past and that it would better for the community and Interpol to have him pay back his debt to society through helping to bring down other criminals rather than sitting behind bars. She also explained that it might be beneficial to have someone with his talents on the squad and that it might be to their advantage to have a 'reformed thief' working with them to bring down those crooked individuals who seemed above the law or knew how to work it to their advantage. Sly Cooper could be the type of agent who could infiltrate or integrate himself into certain criminal organizations and help bring them down from the inside. She also reminded her chief of her impressive arrest record (minus Cooper, though she now managed to bring him in anyways-in a way) and that she was owed numerous favors from both him and other senior officers in Interpol.

Barkley finally gave in and told Carmelita that they would discuss the matter with his superiors: she was to tell Mr. Cooper to stay put in her office, while they went to talk with the higher-ups. Sly got a little nervous when Carmelita came into her office and told him that she needed to meet with some more people about his 're-instatement'. He knew that she was putting her job (which until this point was her life) in jeopardy for him and promised himself that if he was allowed on the force, he would do everything in his power to make sure everything worked out and to make sure that he would be a valuable partner for her, since he knew how valuable she was to him.

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Carmelita's meeting with the Brass didn't start out too smoothly, but with Carmelita's persistence and the calling in of her favors and Barkley's tentative approval, they finally gave in. There were a few caveats, though. First, Cooper had to pass a psychological examination to be sure that he had no recollection of his past and wouldn't be a threat while working at Interpol. Secondly, no one was to mention or bring up Cooper's past. Most of the officers at Interpol were not familiar with his case (since Carmelita had been the only one assigned to his case for so long), so he would be able to begin on a somewhat equal footing with the other starting officers. Those that knew of Mr. Cooper's past would be informed of the situation and ordered to act accordingly. Lastly, being it was her idea, Inspector Fox would be given full responsibility for Mr. Cooper. His training would be done under her supervision. If he passed training, he would be assigned as her partner and she would be expected to take all the blame if and when things went south.

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As they went back down towards Carmelita's office to tell Sly the news, Inspector Fox hugged her commanding officer and thanked him for letting her take a chance with Sly Cooper. The usually gruff Barkley let out a small smile and told her that if this was what she wanted, then he would comply.

"Is thiswhat you want Inspector Fox?"

"Yes sir, I want to see where this gamble will take me."

"Fine, then you better let your new constable in training know of his current situation."

"Yes sir."

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As Carmelita left, Barkley hoped that everything would work out for her. Yes, he had been tough on her in the past. He even knew that he had been a total jerk (I was tempted to use another word, but I want to keep things clean folks!) to her on many occasions, but he also knew the kind of officer she was and that she took better to hard criticism than to a softer touch. He also knew that she hadn't been happy lately in her work and that today was the first time he saw some of that fire she had started with back in her eyes. He also realized that this was the first time that Carmelita hadn't been black and white on an issue. The 'old Carmelita' would have had that thief behind bars in no time flat, now she had decided to let him work off his crimes as her partner.

'Maybe that Mr. Cooper of yours has finally helped you mature, child,' he mused.

He wished the two of them the best and hoped that things would work out for his colleague and her new protégé.

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Sly was besides himself waiting for Carmelita to come back from her meeting. He had always had a hard time sitting still. He was rare in the fact that he needed to be active to stay calm, so he was pacing back and forth in her office when she walked in. Carmelita smirked when she saw her thief nervously pacing back and forth in her office: she found his occasional vulnerability attractive. She had to compose herself though before she talked to him. She reminded herself that he was supposedly under the impression that he was an Interpol officer suffering from amnesia.

"Now, Constable Cooper, because of your condition due to your work on our past mission."

"You mean me not knowing a blessed thing before you found me in that cave?"

"Right, because of that, the Brass at Interpol felt that it would be prudent for you to go through some psychological tests to see where your mental state is at and if you pass, then we will start your re-training."

"We?" Sly asked, though he hoped he knew where this was going.

"Since we were partners before this unfortunate incident, I am going to be responsible for the majority of your training, I mean re-training, and once you earn your proficiencies, you will be reinstated as my partner."

"Sounds tough, but fair. So, when do we start?"

"We can start some basic training after lunch, but it will be a short session today, since we still have to get you settled in."

"Settled in?"

"Well, yes, it seems like you have had a severe case of bad luck, Constable. Besides loosing your memory during our last mission, I was informed that there was a fire in your building while you were away and your apartment along with all of your belongings were destroyed," Carmelita lied, she hated lying to Sly, but he was too clever and could possibly figure things out if she didn't have a good cover story. She thought that she might even have to fabricate a false news article about the fire if he inquired any further.

"Wow, that's a bombshell, so where will I be staying in the meantime?" Sly asked really impressed with Carmelita's cover story.

'She thought of everything' he thought and was really turned on by her cunningness.

"Since at the present time, you are my responsibility, you will be staying with me," Sly thought that he saw Carmelita blush as she said that, "I have a spare bedroom in my apartment and you were given a small stipend to buy some clothes and other necessities after we leave work today. Don't worry, after a few months back on the payroll, you'll be able to get your own place. Do the current arrangements sound sufficient to you?"

"Yes, fine Inspector," Sly said politely, though inside, he wanted to jump up and kiss Carmelita. He was so happy that he was going to spend so much time with her.

'Don't forget Cooper', he told himself, 'this is your one chance, so Do Not screw this up.'

"Very well then, I'll show you to your desk and then we can go down for lunch, you'll need some energy before we start training," Carmelita said business-like. She was overcome with so much joy she wanted to scream like a little girl, who knew that the chance she took on that horrid island could lead to this.

'Now remember mama', she told herself, 'take things one step at a time, your life is finally taking a positive turn, so don't mess this up.'

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"It's small, but it's home," Carmelita said as she opened the door to her apartment and both her and Sly walked in loaded with the purchases they made in order to get Sly settled.

"Well, here's the bedroom," Carmelita said as she put down the bags she was carrying into her spare bedroom and turned on the light in the room, "Why don't you get yourself settled in and I'll start making dinner."

"I just want to thank you again, Inspector for being so gracious to me."

"Don't mention it, and as I said before when we were shopping, you can call me Carmelita when we're off the clock, okay Sly?"

"Okay Carmelita."

Carmelita closed the bedroom door to give the raccoon privacy while he settled in and went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner for the two of them. Both of them took a moment before they started what they needed to do and let out a contented sigh.

'Wow', they both thought, 'how lucky am I right now?'

One would think that shopping for clothes and toiletries would be a bit boring, but after the games they played with each other for so long, the cop and former thief both enjoyed going out and shopping together, like a couple. Of course they weren't a couple yet, but Sly wasn't being chased by Carmelita, avoiding shock pistol blasts either, so it was a start. Secretly, they both hoped that this gamble would pay off.

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Sly didn't take too long to get settled in and he went into the kitchen to see if he could help Carmelita fix dinner. When dinner was ready, Carmelita opened a bottle of red wine to go with their pasta and salad and Sly took his glass and toasted the beautiful lady sitting opposite him.

"To our new partnership, well new to me anyway."

"To our new partnership."

The glasses clinked together and they each took a sip before settling into their dinner.

"Now I went a little easy on you today Sly since it, uh, was your first day back, but don't start to think that because you're staying here and we're friends and all, that I'll go easy on you in training. You may not remember this, but I expect very high standards from myself and from all of my partners. I'm tough, but I think that I'm also fair," Carmelita told Sly after they had finished dinner.

"Yes, ma'am," Sly said with a smirk on his face as he saluted his new partner.

"Okay wise guy, let's clean up this mess and then it might be time to get some sleep, today was a tiring day and I promise you, tomorrow will be even worse," Carmelita said with an evil, yet playful smile on her lips.

After they had cleaned up the dishes, they both went to go to their bedrooms for the night.

"Well, goodnight Carmelita," Sly said as we went to go and kiss her on the cheek. L

Luckily, Sly caught himself before he got too close to her and hoped she didn't notice or else she might realize that he really didn't have amnesia.

"Goodnight Sly," Carmelita said as she went to her room, not noticing the kiss that almost was.

'Phew, that was a close call, come on man, you have to be more careful, you're supposed to not know that much about her, remember your amnesia?' Sly said to himself before settling down in bed.

'I wonder, it looked like he was about to kiss me goodnight there for a second' Carmelita thought to herself. She was flattered, but a worried thought crossed her mind, 'Do you think he knows who he is? Is he just using me?' The cop inside her screamed 'yes!' though her heart took over and said, 'maybe not, if he was about to kiss you goodnight, but then thought better of it.'

'Oh, well, this looks like it's going to be another sleepless night,' Carmelita thought as she went to bed with her conflicting thoughts raging in her brain as always.


	3. Working Together

Sly passed his psychological evaluations, though he had to stop himself from toying too much with the shrinks or else he might have given himself away (boy he loved to mess with therapist types, ever since him and his boys tangled with the Contessa, but of course it was always in fun!). With that hurdle overcome, Carmelita took up her part of the bargain with gusto and started putting Sly through his paces. Granted she was fair like she said she would be, but Sly felt that his new partner was taking a little too much pleasure in his suffering through the physical training (especially the swimming part, he hated to swim and it took him forever (or it felt like that to him) to get through it) and the amount of regulations he needed to know and memorize. Sly did figure that it was probably her way of getting back at him for all the teasing and flirting he did to her in the past and he guessed he deserved some of this punishment. Although, he chuckled to himself as he thought of the numerous times he stole precious items, only to place them in Carmelita's office the next day with a flirtatious note attached.

The hours training under Carmelita seemed to fly by to Sly, and he was able to get proficient at everything rather quickly.

'At least I know that all my training to be a thief didn't go to waste,' Sly thought. Weapons training was the only thing that Sly had a little hang up on: he became proficient at using a shock pistol because he had to, but he really despised the weapon. Sly just preferred sneaking up behind and defeating his enemies by hand.

'Some things never change,' Carmelita thought as she saw her partner take down another 'perp' in his training rounds without the aide of the shock pistol strapped by his side.

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Sly felt that the training was the easiest thing for him to get used to while starting his work at Interpol. Now, office bureaucracy and politics, that was something new to him. The former thief was used to getting along with his old coworkers, and if he bugged Bentley or Murray or they bugged him, they just let each other know and got on with work. Of course, he could take the office craziness: he was used to dealing with creeps and liars as a master thief and he even started to figure out how to get around the office bureaucracy- I mean, come on, he was still Sly Cooper, master thief, if he could maneuver around laser security systems, then he could get around a little office red tape! Sly also paid no attention to the flirting he received from some of the female officers and the cold, jealous stares he got from some of the male officers. He was used to being treated like he was different from everyone else, ever since grammar school, when he and his friends were shunned for being orphans, or for being too sneaky or too brainy or too big. The one thing that really shocked and bothered him though was how Carmelita was treated by some of her fellow officers. Call it a biased opinion, but Sly thought that Carmelita was an excellent policewoman. In fact, she had been the only officer in Interpol assigned to his case that had ever gotten close to apprehending him (and that was even when he wasn't trying to get caught by her!). Consequently, he felt that she would be treated like the outstanding officer with the near perfect arrest record she was. Boy was he wrong! Most of the officers at Interpol were fine, respectable people, but some of the male officers still had a 'boy's club' mentality and they would ogle and hit on some of the more attractive female personnel. Sly was surprised at how little they took the hint when Carmelita would glare at them or make a smart comment when they tried their pathetic pick up lines (though he had to admit to himself that he didn't take the hint either when she rejected him after some of the corny pick up lines he said to her in the past). Some of the female officers were just as bad. They were jealous that Carmelita received the attention she did from some of the male officers (like she even asked for it), and most of them were fond of Sly, being the new, svelte, muscular, well-built recruit that he was, and were jealous that he was Carmelita's partner and seemed to pay her and not them any attention.

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After a while, Sly got over the interpersonal nonsense and felt that maybe it was time he started being a little more social around work. Sly was a pretty extroverted guy (for a man who used to make a living sneaking around places!) and though he loved spending time with Carmelita, he felt it might be in his best interest to get to know his fellow officers. Besides, he wouldn't mind having a couple more friends around work (being that he almost spent a hundred percent of his time with his one 'friend' and he had no idea where his two best friends were currently). So, one day at lunch, Sly asked Carmelita, if she wanted to go with him and have lunch with some of the other officers. Carmelita became really quiet.

"I don't know Sly. I'm pretty immersed in my work usually, so I'm not really friendly with a lot of people here," the vixen replied, with what might have been a hint of trepidation in her voice.

It hurt Sly to see the strong and proud policewoman he admired for so long feel so small and hurt. He knew that she had been treated badly by a lot of her co-workers, but he also knew that her life would be better as well if she knew a few more friendly faces at work. With that decided, the constable sat down next to his partner and quietly talked to her, so nobody could hear their conversation.

"Look Inspector, I don't remember how things were before my 'condition', but I see the way that some of the 'officers' and I use that term loosely for some of them, treat you and I personally would go and let those guys and gals know exactly what I think of them, but then I'd be thrown off the force," Carmelita felt a little better at the thought of Sly defending her like that, "I'm just saying that there are a lot of officers here who aren't complete jerks and it might do us both some good to get to know some of them. I bet you're probably getting tired of just seeing my sorry face day in and day out. So, come on…' smiling, Sly offered his hand to Carmelita.

'Things are definitely different with you around ringtail', Carmelita thought.

It was funny, but for how brave she was on the job, Carmelita had been intimidated with the thought of being social with her fellow officers. She knew that she had a bad reputation around the office as being harsh and hot-tempered (though that was mainly due to her interactions with those meat-heads who hit on her) and she just felt things would be easier if she kept to herself. She did realize that someone like Sly would eventually want to make some more friends and she was encouraged by the fact that he wanted her to join him in meeting new people. Though feeling she might regret it, the inspector took her partner's hand and followed him over to another table.

"Hi do you mind if we join you for lunch?" Sly asked with a smile.

"No problem, have a seat," one of the officers replied.

"Well let me introduce myself. I'm one of the new officers in training, Sly Cooper and this is my partner, Carmelita Fox," Sly responded.

Lunch went better than Carmelita expected. Both her and Sly were welcomed by the officers and everyone seemed to have a good time. Carmelita would have been upset if she heard the conversation her co-workers had after she and Sly left: though it wasn't as bad as one would have thought….

"Carmelita has a new partner, huh. I guess no one's told him about 'Old Ironsides' yet."

"I don't know. Didn't Fox seem different to you today, a lot more friendly and approachable than normal?"

"Well, yeah, for once she didn't eat lunch by herself."

"Yeah and our conversation was pretty lively."

"Maybe we've misjudged her."

"We'll see. Who knows, it might be nice to get to know the 'real' Inspector Fox."

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With Sly's help (though honestly Carmelita didn't realize he was helping her, she just felt more comfortable in his presence and was able to let more people see a better side of her without worrying what everyone would think), Carmelita became a lot more social around work. She and Sly would even go out with some of the other officers on Friday nights for drinks, though Sly would usually nurse a soda when they were out, he had never been much of a drinker. As Carmelita became more social around work, her icy façade melted and luckily, so did the 'Ironsides' nickname.

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Although a little unorthodox in some of his techniques, Sly had passed his proficiencies. When Sly was finished with his training, he had the next big hurdle in front of him: his first big mission with Carmelita.

Carmelita sat Sly down in her office to go over the details of their mission.

"You probably don't remember, but before your 'incident' your specialty was recon and infiltration, but with a twist. Constable, you were an incredible undercover agent and still are. You have the ability to blend in to any situation and get inside many different operations that other officers couldn't. The case that we're on is going to take a few weeks of work before we can carry out the actual bust. The two of us are going undercover and both of us, but especially you, are going to need to make the target feel comfortable enough to get us into his inner circle. This job is going to take some finesse: the man we're trying to take down has a known criminal reputation, but he's equally known and comfortable in high class, law-abiding circles," Carmelita briefed the new constable.

"Oh, like Dimitri Cousteau," Sly realized his mistake only after he made it. He kept his cool though and waited to react based on Carmelita's next actions.

Alarm bells started to go off in Carmelita's head.

'If he has amnesia, he shouldn't know about Cousteau's past. That occurred way before our time on Kaine island and Dimitri hasn't been seen in criminal circles for a while, another man who seemed to have gone legit.'

'Now wait, see if there is a rational explanation for his knowing this,' she told herself, for once not wanting to overreact prematurely.

"Have you been reading up on our past work Cooper?" Carmelita asked, hoping he would pass her test.

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but you caught me, partner. I just couldn't stand not knowing about our past work together and so I flipped through some of our past files to get a handle on the types of characters we've dealt with. You know, in order to prepare for our, my, first mission back. I hate not being prepared, so I felt like I needed to get this background info. I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries."

"No, that's okay. I'm glad you're taking the initiative. Now let's get back to the case at hand….' Carmelita was at least partially relieved by his explanation. Though, she knew Cooper better: if anyone else had told her that story, she would have totally believed them. But Sly, now he was smart enough to come up with a cover like that and make it sound believable. She hated not trusting him, but something inside her knew that Sly was totally capable of faking amnesia. Sometimes she thought that she caught him saying or doing things that he probably shouldn't have known. Things that made it seem like Sly still had memories about their past together. Carmelita did know that it was easiest for her to trust her partner, since he'd given her no reason to believe he's not trustworthy now. Though a small part of her did hope that he was faking amnesia, because it meant that he knew who he was and was going legit because he wanted to, possibly because he wanted to be with her, and not because he had no other choice. In any case, she did hope that his reading those files didn't jog his memory too much: she'd have to keep a closer eye on what files he has access to in the future.

Inside, Sly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Carmelita bought his cover story. Though the raccoon knew her better. Carmelita was so smart that she could not believe his story but give him the impression that she did to lull him into a false sense of security. At the moment, he did feel that his thoughts seemed like a bit of paranoia. Deep down, he did hope that she knew that he didn't have amnesia, since maybe it would show her that he truly did go legit and that maybe she would also realize that he did it for her.

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After a few weeks of recon work, it was finally time for Sly and Carmelita to make their first bust as partners. The two got dolled up for the evening: they had been posing as society types in order to get close to their mark and gather damaging evidence on him. Tonight at a gala event, they were going to surprise him with a trip to jail, but before they left, Carmelita had some plans for Sly.

"Sly, I have a surprise for you," Carmelita beamed as went into the kitchen.

"What is it partner? Don't forget, we have our first real mission since I was re-instated and I want everything to go smoothly," Sly said as he left his room dressed to the nines in his tuxedo.

"It won't take too long. Besides, we have to celebrate," Carmelita said as she left the kitchen with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

Sly got a first look at Carmelita in her long black evening gown and was taken back by her beauty, though he remembered his cover.

"Looking good partner. Now what are we celebrating?"

"Thanks. You clean up nice yourself. Well, we're celebrating our first official operation as partners, again. I must say that out of the ones I've had in the past, you've been the best to work with," Carmelita wanted to mention that it had also been three months to the day that Sly had given up his old life, but she knew better.

"Nice to know. Though I hope you won't be regretting saying that tonight," Sly tensed up a little after saying that because he knew there was a lot riding on tonight. If things didn't go well, he might be thrown off the force, or worse, he could be responsible for getting Carmelita fired as well. He was used to operations, but smaller ones. Working for Interpol meant orchestrating huge operations with multiple operatives all working in sync. He was prepared, but this type of mission wasn't his usual mode of operation.

"Don't worry, we've gone over all the scenarios multiple times. Plus, you did receive some of the best scores in your training, even for someone with amnesia," Carmelita tried to comfort Sly. It was rare to see him nervous and although she found it cute, the vixen knew she needed her partner ready to go for tonight. Sly wasn't the only one who knew how much was riding on a successful outcome of the mission.

"Now, let's toast to your first mission back at Interpol," Carmelita said, keeping up her ruse as she poured the champagne and stepped onto her balcony with her glass.

"To _our _first mission," Sly corrected her as he joined her on the balcony and they clinked glasses before taking a sip.

"Tonight seems like it's going to be a good night," Carmelita commented as she took in the view from her apartment.

Sly was also enjoying the view, and not just the scenery, if you know what I mean, when he felt that he was being watched. He quickly looked behind him and smiled as he saw his former, green 'guardian angel' peering at him through a familiar set of binocucoms a few buildings away. He was happy to see his friend, though a little ashamed of not telling him goodbye and gave the turtle a wink to let him know that he knew that he was there and to let his friend know that he was doing fine.

"See something Sly?" Carmelita asked, when she noticed him look over his shoulder for a brief moment.

"I thought I did, but it was nothing, must be those nerves of mine."

"For the last time, you'll be fine. Now let's go before the chief starts to get impatient."

"Starts?" Sly asked mockingly.

Carmelita laughed at his joke as the two went inside the apartment before they got their coats and left to meet their fellow officers to start the final stages of their undercover operation.


	4. Getting Serious

After successfully completing their first operation together (did you expect anything less?), Sly and Carmelita's work relationship really solidified. Over the next few missions, the pair really learned to trust each other and anticipate each other's actions. The Brass took notice of their success and naturally congratulated themselves on their idea to put Sly Cooper on the force.

Unfortunately, things were a little weird for the pair when it came to matters outside work. It wasn't that the two of them didn't like spending time with each other, they just didn't know how to proceed with each other: especially since they currently shared an apartment. Carmelita was totally appreciative of the fact that Sly was a total gentleman and was always knocking or announcing himself whenever he entered a room (and she was sure her parents would have appreciated that fact too, if she ever let them know of her new roommate), but she was starting to get tired of the two of them acting like just roommates.

Sly felt the same exact way and he felt stupid for not realizing earlier the answer in front of him. He needed to proceed like he hadn't had any prior feelings for Carmelita, but that he was developing them for her for the first time. It made perfect sense, in any other situation if he had not known the policewoman, he first would have wanted to get to know her better and have the two of them be more comfortable in each other's presence and be friends before he would have tried anything romantic, like a date. The funny thing he realized was that he already knew her well and was comfortable with her (except of course in this current situation). It sounded easy, but he knew it would be a challenge to get to know Carmelita without letting on that he already knew her that well.

Sly began small and started to ask Carmelita about her taste in music, books, movies, etc. He recommended books for her to read, brought movies home for them to watch, suggested cafes or clubs they could go to as friends. The two got to know each other's likes, dislikes, beliefs, what they each wanted out of life and especially important, those little quirks each other had that drove the other crazy (you never know when annoying each other would come in handy). Carmelita was totally appreciative of this: she desperately wanted to be more comfortable around Sly and was thankful that they were able to start by becoming good friends (though of course she wanted to be more than that, but it does take time), especially since it's easier to share an apartment with a friend rather than just a roommate.

As the time went on, the friendship blossomed and they became more comfortable with each other and started to act more like brother and sister. Many a time, Carmelita responded to some wise crack Sly had said by grabbing his head and giving him a noogie. Then there was the time that they were watching a movie and having popcorn and soda. Carmelita had taken a drink of her soda and let out a burp. She started to flush when she realized what she did, but stopped feeling embarrassed when Sly said, "Nice one, but how about this?" and let out a belch himself.

"Not bad, but I think I can beat that," and she let out a belch herself.

"Impressive," Sly responded. They just laughed and settled back down to watching the movie.

Carmelita and Sly had developed more of a real relationship in the few months they roomed together than in the years they spent chasing after one another

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was about two months later, after Sly had moved out of Carmelita's apartment (to an apartment in her building nonetheless), that Sly decided that he needed to take some real initiative.

"Hey boss, can I talk to you about something?" Sly asked as he walked into Carmelita's office and shut the door.

"Sure Constable, what's up?"

"I think I have a problem with one of my coworkers."

"What is it?" Carmelita inquired, fire in her eyes, ready to battle whoever wronged her ringtail.

"I think I'm falling for my partner," Sly said and Carmelita thought that she saw his cheeks flush a little as he said that.

"Que?" Carmelita blurted out, not expecting that, though her heart was screaming 'finally!'

"I don't know what our relationship was before I had amnesia, but I really enjoy your company Carmelita, may I call you Carmelita here?"

"Yes Constable Cooper."

"As I was saying, I really enjoy your company, even when you kicked my butt during training, and I've just been really impressed by your intelligence and compassion that you show during our missions, and I've treasured the time we had together when I stayed with you during my training- it gave me a chance to know you a little bit outside of work, so I was wondering if I would be able to have some more time to get to know you even better?"

"Constable Cooper…"

"Please, you can call me Sly here."

"Okay. Sly, are you asking me out on a date?" Carmelita asked with a sly smirk on her face, "Because some officers here may disapprove of a Constable dating his commanding officer."

Sly wasn't expecting that answer and it deflated his hopes immediately. He didn't know what to say and was afraid.

'If she thinks my asking her out on a date is wrong, then what will she think if she finds out I still know who I am?' he thought, really starting to regret what he had done.

"Well,…" Sly tried to reply before Carmelita interrupted him.

"Though luckily, I'm not one of those officers. Not anymore," Carmelita said that last part more to herself than to Sly.

"I've started to realize that rules don't always have to be black or white and besides, I know a few couples here at Interpol, so we wouldn't be doing anything that unusual if you came around to my place at seven tonight."

It took a few minutes for Sly to finally realize what Carmelita had said.

"Se…seven?"

"Yes, will seven work for you?" Carmelita responded with a sly smile.

"Yeah, sure, seven will be fine. I'll see you then," Sly said as he went to open the door to her office.

"Oh, and Sly…"

"Yes," he stopped before he opened the door.

"You don't need to go all out for tonight. We can just go get some pizza or watch videos at my place or whatever. You don't have to do anything special for me: I think that us having some real time together may just be special enough."

"Alright," Sly said, at a loss for words as he left her office, surprised and impressed that Carmelita smooth-talked him for a change.

'Alright ringtail,' Carmelita thought, proud of herself, turned on by seeing Sly Cooper a little humbled by her words and extremely looking forward to that night.

------------------------------------

A little before seven, there was a knock on Carmelita's door and she opened it to see her partner there, carrying a large basket.

"What's with the basket?"

"It's for our date, though I don't want to spoil too much of the surprise right now. And since you told me not to go through too much trouble, you're going to have to do some of the work for tonight, so let's go."

"Fine, do I need to grab anything before we go?"

"You might want to take your jacket," he waited a minute for her to get it before he asked, "Ready to go?"

Carmelita shook her head yes, though she thought to herself, 'Ready? I've been ready to go on a date with you ringtail for years!'

Sly brought Carmelita to a local fine foods store and told her that it was her job to pick out what she wanted for dinner and he'd get what he wanted. Carmelita did notice that as they went through the store, Sly seemed to pick things that he knew she liked. She was touched at his sweet gesture, but decided to play his game and started getting items that she knew he preferred. When Sly saw her doing this, he looked at her and asked,

"Am I that obvious?"

"You're sweet, but yeah, you're totally obvious. Besides I'd prefer it if we ate what we both like, okay?"

"Okay," Sly smiled as Carmelita playfully tugged on his cheek ruff.

After they left the store, Sly took Carmelita to a river front park and they found a spot that had a nice view of the city and set up their 'evening picnic'.

It was extremely romantic, as the two of them ate and enjoyed each other's company while the beautiful colors of the sunset reflected in the water.

As it got darker and the lights of the cityscape in front of them started to flicker on, Carmelita got a little cold and nestled up to Sly for warmth. As she did this, Sly put his arm around her shoulder and brought her close against his body. They enjoyed this moment together before Carmelita spoke.

"Can I be honest with you Sly?"

"Absolutely, there doesn't need to be any secrets between us." (Both of them noted the irony in that sentence)

"I was beginning to worry about you ringtail, it took you forever to ask me out," Sly blushed at that and faced Carmelita.

"Well, yeah, I had wanted to for a while, but I was afraid this might affect things at work, so I had to work up the nerve to ask you out."

"I'd never figure you were one who had to work up the nerve to do anything."

"Well, only when it comes to really important things," Carmelita rested her head on Sly's shoulder as he said this and Sly put his head on top of hers.

"Can I ask you another question ringtail?" Carmelita asked, taking in his warmth and his musk as she was nestled next to him.

"Sure, I'm an open book," Sly replied, intoxicated with the smell of lilac from Carmelita's hair, too taken up in the moment to be aware of the potential danger he put himself in with that reply.

"How long are you going to wait before you kiss me?" she lifted her head and looked seductively into his eyes, though still in his embrace.

"I thought a gentleman never kisses on the first date," he tenderly told her.

"I already know how much of a gentleman you are, now I want to see how good a kisser you are."

Carmelita leaned in and the two of them kissed, really kissed, for the first time (I remember the incident on the volcano, but that was a quick peck, this was a real kiss).

They both reveled in what they had desired for so long.

"Hmmm, that was pretty good Sly," Carmelita gently told him.

"Only pretty good? I'll have to try better next time," and they laughed before setting out for home.

Things naturally progressed from there and Sly and Carmelita enjoyed their time as boyfriend and girlfriend.


	5. Questions

About six months later, things led to the other time that Sly was really nervous about talking to Carmelita.

They had gone out to dinner and returned to Carmelita's apartment.

"Do you want to come in Sly?" she asked, "you haven't been yourself tonight. Is something the matter?"

"There's nothing wrong, so you don't have to worry, but there is something that I feel I need to talk to you about," Sly said as he took her hand and lead her into the apartment. He sat her down on her couch and looked into her eyes. She could see nervous excitement in those brown eyes, but she also saw a hint of worry. There was something big weighing on his heart tonight.

"Carmelita."

"Yes Sly?"

"There's something that I've wanted to ask you for a while."

"Oh?" her heart leaped as she hoped she knew what his question was going to be. She was still concerned about that worried look in his eyes.

"What's up ringtail?" she smirked and stroked his hand.

"Before I ask, there's something I need to tell you and although it might change your answer to my question, I really need to get this off my chest."

Carmelita looked intently into Sly's eyes and let him know that he could continue. Sure, she was concerned about what he was going to say, but it was obviously important to him and she didn't want to show any concern in her eyes that would make him not say what he needed to get out. Sly saw the heartfelt support in Carmelita's eyes and regained the strength to continue.

"Carmelita, I love you. I don't think I've loved anyone as much as I love you, but the entire time we've been together, I've been lying to you. I never wanted to lie, it hurt me every day to have to do it, but I felt that I needed to in order to get a chance to make a life with you."

Carmelita didn't respond. Sly felt uneasy by her silence, but continued.

"When you found me on that island, I didn't know who I was for a moment, but when you answered me and told me that I was your partner, Constable Cooper, and not the master thief Sly Cooper, everything came back to me and I realized the chance you were taking to give me the gift that I desperately wanted. So knowingly, I gave up my old life to start a new one with you. Carmelita, I never had amnesia. I know about my whole past, _our_ past. I know that there is no way I could make up for lying to you for so long, but I know that the little time I've spent with you has at least been worth it for me. I'll leave if you want me to," Sly said dejectedly as he started to get up.

Carmelita's inner cop felt triumphant: 'See, I told you he was no good! That thief has been lying to you this whole time. He's been using you!"

For once in her life, Carmelita ignored that little voice in her head and thought exactly what her heart was telling her.

'He lied so he could be with me. He gave up his entire life just so he could get to know _me_ better, so we could be more than a cop and a thief. He hasn't been with me because he was forced to, but because he chose to."

Being with Sly had finally given her the courage to follow her heart for once and she finally decided to listen to it.

"Sly…" she said as she placed her hand on Sly's to stop him from going, "How thick do you think I am?"

The raccoon looked at her with a confused look on his face and she smiled as she continued.

"I had the inkling that you had always known who you were. There were plenty of times when you had given me subtle hints that you knew more of your former life and our past relationship than you were letting on: like the time you started to go to kiss me goodnight the first night you stayed here but stopped," Sly blushed as he remembered that moment.

"I also have to admit that I lied to you Sly," she hung her face down shamefully for a moment, while Sly looked at her tenderly and then continued, "I kept up the charade that you had been my partner before that time on the island for the same reason you pretended to still have amnesia. I also wanted to have the chance to get to know you better. This may come as a shock to you, but I'm relieved to hear you say that you've always known who you were. It was like a dagger always hanging over my head. Were you ever going to realize who you really were and then decide to leave- leave me?"

"Never Carmelita," Sly whispered, though she heard him and blushed.

"I knew that you were too smart and would figure everything out Cooper, but I hoped that you had stayed with me because you wanted to and not because I had tricked you. In fact, I think being with you has matured me a bit, besides the few gray hairs you may have given me due to your antics during our missions," they both chuckled at that.

"You've helped me realize that the world can't be partitioned into black or white, right or wrong. I don't love Constable Cooper or even Sly Cooper, Master Thief. I love Sly Cooper, since I know he loves Carmelita Montoya Fox and not Inspector Fox. So, with that said, are you going to ask me your question or not?"

Sly was so taken back by her honesty and by what she said that he just stood there speechless for once. Carmelita smiled and replied.

"I like it when you're speechless Cooper. It doesn't happen that often. Now, you've always amazed me with that intuition of yours, so let me try to amaze you with mine. Yes."

"Yes?" Sly asked as he playfully cocked his head, though he was hoping she knew what he was thinking.

"Yes, I'll marry you, Sly Cooper! That was what you were going to ask me, wasn't it?"

Sly just stood there amazed again and thought 'What a woman!' before he responded.

"Huh, how did you know? Did you peak in my jacket, you little thief?" he smiled coyly at her.

"No, I'm too honest for that, I just secretly hoped that you would."

"Well, let me make it official," Sly said as he got down on one knee and opened up the small black box that contained a diamond engagement ring.

"Carmelita Montoya Fox, would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

"Of course."

Sly placed the ring on her finger and they passionately kissed each other. After the kiss, Carmelita turned to Sly and said.

"Not to bring up old times, but I was right."

"What do you mean Carmelita?"

"Didn't I always tell you that I'd get you ringtail?" she said with a big smile on her face.

Sly laughed as he remembered those past times and said.

"You're right querera. I guess I'm all yours now!" and the two of them kissed again for what seemed like an eternity.

--------------------------------------------------

The Saturday after his confession to Carmelita, Sly seemed a little edgy while he and Carmelita were at her place watching a movie.

"Sly, you seem really tense, what's the matter?" she said, starting to massage his shoulders.

"Well, I still feel a little guilty because I haven't come a hundred percent clean to you."

"What?" she stopped massaging Sly.

"What other secrets are you hiding?" Carmelita said hurt. She thought that they had stopped keeping secrets from each other.

"It's nothing earth shattering. It's just, well, I meant everything I said to you a few nights ago and the reason I did it was that I wanted us to be together and not have any secrets come between us, but I think that I had an ulterior motive for coming clean about my past."

Carmelita said nothing. This really upset Sly, so he quickly continued.

"I just figured that if I told you about everything and that we were together, that I would be able to possibly have my family back in my life."

"What do you mean Cooper? I'm sorry to bring this up, but I thought all your family passed away," Carmelita was really afraid, was he trying to tell her that he wanted to go back to his family business?

"They did. I mean, who I'm talking about aren't my family, biologically, but they've been my only family for years and I've deeply missed them the past year."

Carmelita finally understood: that gang of his. She thought that they were just criminals-in-arms. She didn't realize that Sly thought of them as family. The more she thought of it, the more she realized how much Sly gave up for her. She didn't know what she would do without her parents and her sister: they were her world, besides Sly now.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Carmelita said as she pulled Sly into a huge hug.

"What do you have to be sorry for? I'm the jerk who didn't let you know sooner."

"Sly, with all that family talk, I thought you wanted to go back into your 'family business'. I forgot about your gang. They seemed like decent enough guys, but I never thought of them as your family. Sly I'm so sorry. I never thought of that, it must have been hard for you to not see them for so long," she looked at him lovingly, letting him know she understood what he was asking of her and how much she appreciated his sacrifice.

"Carmelita, I would never do anything to jeopardize my life with you. As of now, I have no secrets from you and I don't plan on keeping any. And, don't worry, I wanted to show you how much I really care about you and I secretly felt that I would probably see the guys again some day."

"Don't worry, they're going to be part of my family too now, so they can be part of yours again."

"You mean it Carmelita?"

'Yes. Besides, it'll be interesting to meet the guys that bailed you out of jams so many times."

"It wasn't that many," Sly said indignantly, yet playfully.

"So, do you have any idea of what they're doing now?" Carmelita said, knowing full well what his answer would probably be.

Sly grinned sheepishly.

"I do. I promise that I haven't contacted them. I didn't want you to worry that I was reforming the gang, but I just wanted to see how they were doing."

"Well, go ahead ringtail!" Carmelita said annoyed, though she smiled when she said it.

"Well, Murray, he's back in the States and being that he enjoyed working on the gang's van, he opened up his own mechanic shop. He's also gotten into stock van racing and it seems that he's pretty successful at it. He travels all around the States and Canada during the racing season, but I think he's based in Florida since that's where most of the big racetracks are."

"It's good to see that the big guy's keeping busy. Now what about that genius friend of yours?"

"Bentley? Well, it might surprise you, but right before our job at the Cooper Vault, Bentley got himself a girlfriend."

"Wow, god job, turtle boy."

"Yeah, it was seeing them together that gave me the kick in the pants I needed to realize that all I wanted was with you, querera," Carmelita blushed at Sly's use of 'my love' in Spanish and kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

"Now just who is this special lady who finally captured that turtle's heart?'

-'Her name's Penelope. She's a mouse from Amsterdam who knows a thing or two about RC technology. She was, uh, one of our former collaborators."

"You mean a member of your gang?" Carmelita remarked slyly as she tugged on one of Sly's cheek ruffs, making him blush.

"Yeah, she was."

"So what is that brain trust up to? No good, I figure," Carmelita's eyes went a little hard as she said that.

"To tell you the truth, querera," Carmelita's expression softened a little at that and because Sly placed his hand on hers as he said it, the sly devil, "I'm not exactly sure about that. I do know that they're currently living in Boston. Bentley's working for some computer firm I think, probably making a name for himself as an ace computer programmer and Penelope's earning a Master's degree in mechanical engineering or something like that."

"Well, it's good to see that you're friends are doing things that they love, legal activities I might add."

"Would you expect any less from friends of Interpol's newest and best constable, querera?"

"Hmm, I guess not, ringtail," Carmelita said as she pulled him toward her for a kiss.


	6. Family Matters

Bentley, Murray and Penelope were shocked to hear Sly's news about the engagement. Actually they were shocked to hear from Sly at all and even more shocked, though delighted, to hear that Carmelita wanted them as part of her new family. The new couple decided that it would be best to visit both their 'families' so that both Sly and Carmelita could get to know their respective 'in-laws'.

"The only thing we need to decide…' Sly said, going over the plans for their first 'vacation' together to both the States and Spain (though visiting one another's families for the first time wouldn't necessarily be considered a vacation), "is who we should visit first: your family, Bentley and Penelope or Murray?"

"Murray!" they both agreed, deciding to opt with the easiest visit first.

--------------------------------

The M-man's last known address took the pair to a mechanic's shop in mid Florida. The couple was looking around the shop for a moment, until Murray spotted them and brought them to his small bachelor's apartment above the shop. The worst the two of them had to endure from Murray were his rib-crushing hugs when they first arrived. Murray was extremely happy to see his old friend again and he was glad to see Carmelita under friendlier circumstances. He had always liked the policewoman, though it took Murray a few moments to get to used to calling his new 'sister' Carmelita instead of Inspector Fox, but after that it was a rather pleasant visit.

"So how did Bentley react to our news? I figure you guys still talk?" Sly asked his buddy.

"Oh yeah Sly, Bentley and I keep in regular contact," Sly hung his head a little at that moment since he still felt guilty for what he felt was abandoning them for so long. Murray noticed and tried to make him feel better.

"Don't worry Sly. I know you would have contacted us if you could, but now you can make up for missed times."

"You got that right buddy. So back on topic, what about Bentley?"

"Well, he told me that he figured something like this would happen the last time he saw you," Murray blushed a little and Sly smirked as they both remembered the aforementioned incident.

"Wait. What last time he saw you?" Carmelita asked a little defensively.

"Nothing to worry about querera," Sly said putting an arm around her shoulder in order to calm his lady, "Do you remember the night of our first official bust?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, do you remember before the bust that there was a moment on the balcony of your apartment when I looked behind me and you asked if there was something wrong and I said 'No'? Well, I had gotten a feeling of being watched and when I turned around, I spotted Bentley a few buildings away, probably checking up on me and I just gave him a wink to let him know that everything was fine with me."

"I _knew_ that there was something up with you that night!" Carmelita said triumphantly.

"Observant as always, it's one of the things I love about you, querera," Sly said as he kissed her on the cheek.

The pair enjoyed the rest of their time with Murray and even got to see him race one evening (he won naturally) before heading up to Boston.

------------------------------------------------

When Sly and Carmelita arrived at the large Victorian house in one of the Boston suburbs, the raccoon laughed to himself as he realized that two of the smallest members of his gang were living in such a large house, while one of the largest members was right at home in a tiny apartment.

They knocked on the door, and when it opened, Sly was almost knocked over as a white blur came out of the house and hugged him around his middle.

"Sly! It's so good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you again too Penelope. How have you been?" Sly answered, returning her hug- it _was_ good to see her again!

"Oh, can't complain, keepin' busy as always."

The mouse went over and gave Carmelita an equally large hug.

"Nice to finally meet you. So, the great Inspector Fox finally captured our Sly's heart huh?"

Carmelita felt extremely welcomed but was a little embarrassed at the mouse's last comment.

"Geez Penelope, enough with the corny lines, give her some time to breathe. Now, where's that boyfriend of yours?" Sly said as he looked around anxiously for his friend.

"I'm right here," Bentley answered as he wheeled himself onto the porch.

The two friends just looked at each other for a minute before large smiles appeared on both their faces and Sly said, "Come here buddy!" and gave his friend a big hug.

Carmelita came up next to Sly, "Hey there Bentley," and tentatively gave the turtle a hug.

"I'm glad you both could visit. Come on in and make yourselves at home," Bentley replied, leading everyone inside the nicely furnished house. Remnants of multiple projects the pair had been working on were scattered around the house. Sly also recognized many mementos of past capers decorating the house: Bentley never being one to part with anything 'You never know when something might come in handy again,' Bentley would always reply when Sly would comment on the sometimes cluttered state of their old hideout.

'Bless his turtle heart, it looks like he kept the entire contents of the Safehouse when he moved to the States,' Sly thought to himself.

Sly was a little caught up in his thoughts and in reminiscing as he looked at some of Bentley's possessions that he partly missed the awkwardness that seemed to creep in between Carmelita and Bentley. Though the two were being polite to each other, one could tell that they both had a lot on their minds that they needed to get out in the open. Sly did notice that Bentley seemed to give Penelope a glance that she answered with a small nod: he realized that the two of them must have planned out what to do in such a situation and laughed at himself for not realizing that out of every member of his gang, that those two would be prepared for any situation that would occur- even awkward social ones like now.

"Well, let me go and get some snacks. I need a strong, able guy to help me, so it looks like it's you, Sly," Penelope said as she got up to leave the room.

"Naturally," Sly responded cockily, realizing what Bentley and Penelope were up to and convincingly playing his part.

"Ha ha, very funny you two. Though, we'd better be careful Carmelita, Penelope had a huge crush on Sly, so who knows what'll happen with those two going off alone?" Bentley joked.

"Puuulease, that was only when I first joined up with you guys. Besides, I prefer smart guys, over svelte guys," Penelope teased as she kissed her boyfriend on the forehead.

After Penelope and Sly had left the room, Bentley got a little more serious.

"I'm sorry," Bentley told Carmelita.

"For what?" Carmelita was taken back by his comment that seemed to come out of the blue, "I'm the one that made your friend stay away from you for over a year."

"First of all, I'm sorry for making you feel so uncomfortable right now. Inspector Fox…. Carmelita, I never hated you. I might have thought Sly was crazy for trying to get to know you so many times, even though you kept trying to arrest him, but that's it. It's not a reflection on you. I mean hey, I even went through a labyrinth of swirling blades of death with an acid battery strapped to my back in order to help you escape from that witch, the Contessa,"

"I didn't know, thanks," Carmelita said, humbled that the turtle went through so much trouble to help her.

"Well, yeah, that's past news, but that brings me to my second point. Part of the reason I went through that maze of death was to make sure Sly didn't do anything rash that night. When he saw you captured by the Contessa, he wanted to break down the gates and save you right then and there, without even thinking anything through. You didn't make Sly do anything that he didn't want to do. He gave up his past life because he wanted to and he let us know that. Sure, it was sad to see our friend go, but it was a choice that _he _made. You of all people should know better after chasing after him for so long. No matter what the odds, if Sly Cooper wants something, nothing will stop him. At first, I thought that his flirting with you was just a way for him to fluster you and not get caught. As time went on, I felt that it was just a harmless crush. After I met Penelope though, I realized what should have been obvious to me from the beginning: he has real feelings for you. Sly has always wanted to be with you and both Murray and I knew that and were happy for him when we found out that he went after what he wanted. So don't go blaming yourself for anything: Sly's a big boy and he knew what he was giving up when he went with you. Besides, what kind of friend would I have been if I didn't check up on him? And from what I saw, you two looked pretty content together."

"Yeah, Murray let me know about that," Carmelita answered sheepishly, which made the turtle chuckle a little.

"Carmelita, you're part of Sly's family now, which means both Penelope and I are part of your family. You know, in a way, you're now a member of the Cooper Gang," Bentley smirked at that comment, "Though I must also congratulate Inspector Fox, for finally getting her man…"

"Yeah, but it was through a ring instead of a pair of bracelets," they both laughed at Carmelita's joke.

"So are things okay between us now?" Bentley asked hesitantly.

"Of course, hermano, though there was something else I was hoping I could get from you?"

"Oh?" Bentley raised an eyebrow at this. Carmelita became a little flustered about what she was about to ask: she wasn't even sure if he had what she wanted and she definitely wasn't sure if it was right of her to ask about it.

"I was just wondering if you still have any of Sly's things. I mean, he left _everything_ when he decided to come with me and I feel guilty that he has nothing to remember his family by. He left his cane back on that island and I also remember there being a family book that was really important to him. I was hoping that maybe you had them. I wanted to give them to him, kind of like a wedding present… and to show him that I trust him completely."

"Ever since I met him, Sly has had some kind of intuition about things. I never really trusted it too much, especially when it came to his opinion of you, Inspector, but I'm humbled to say that I was wrong about it when it came to you. You've really changed him for the better. Sly's always been a pretty upbeat guy, but he hasn't stopped beaming since the two of you showed up. I can see why: you're a remarkable woman inspector. Of course, you can have his things."

Carmelita was speechless, she was touched by what he said and gave him a really big hug.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Though we do have the problem of getting you these items without Sly being the wiser. I mean it would look kind of suspicious if you left here with Sly's things."

Carmelita thought for a moment, "You could send me the items, but instead of your address, you could put my parents' just in case Sly saw. Hopefully he would just see their address and not look at the Boston postmark and then not touch it since it was for me. I mean he's too much of a gentleman to open a package addressed to me from my parents."

"True, for a former thief, Sly's always been too honest for his own good," they both laughed at that.

-------------------------------

That conversation helped break the tension between the two of them and both Bentley and Carmelita had the chance to get to know each other better over the next few days. In fact, the two of them seemed to get along real well. They found out they had a few things in common, one being their love for the game of chess, and for a second time (the first being Penelope of course), Bentley found an equal in one of his interests.

"Carmelita, I knew you were clever enough to keep up with us over the years, but I didn't know the tactical genius that you really are."

"Well, yeah, it comes from having to track certain brainy individuals across the globe. Besides, it's just nice to have someone who's focused enough to play a few games with."

"Too true, Sly may have a sharp mind, but he tends to loose focus too quickly."

"I've noticed that on some of our missions," the vixen added, smirking at her fiancé.

"Are you two almost finished bonding over Sly bashing? I can't believe how chummy the two of you have gotten over the past few days," Sly remarked as he looked over Carmelita's shoulder while she was playing.

"Well, it just looks like the two of us have more in common than we thought," Carmelita said as she turned and kissed her raccoon on the cheek.

"Yeah, I forgot that the both of you totally enjoy nagging me to death. Maybe it would have been better if I continued to pretend not to know who I was."

----------------------------------------

As always when one is having a good time, the time passed quickly and soon Sly and Carmelita had to head back to Europe.

As the two couples were saying their goodbyes, Bentley and Carmelita had one final conversation.

"I know that you and Penelope will be doing what's right. If sometimes that means breaking the law, then I'm sure you're smart enough to make sure Sly and I don't know anything and aren't involved, that way no one can get in trouble. We're family now, that's what family does," Carmelita said as she hugged her new brother goodbye.

"Hmmm. Cooper Family, sounds a lot better than Cooper Gang, doesn't it?"

"I think so. Besides, weren't you guys always hoping for families since you were kids? Now you have a really great one," Carmelita replied as she smiled at the turtle.

Bentley returned the smile, "You're a good woman Carmelita and a good friend to both to Sly and I. I'm so thankful everything worked out for the best."

"You and me both turtle boy."

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Sly got more and more anxious as the time to visit the Fox family drew nearer. Sly was as antsy as he had been during one of his heists when they arrived in Madrid and made their way toward the Fox family home just outside the capitol. His nerves still weren't calmed when they arrived at the hacienda and Carmelita knocked on the door.

"I think I was more calm when I took on Ruby's undead army than I am now, querera."

"Stop exaggerating, you'll be fine."

"Who's exaggerating?"

"Maybe this will take your mind off of things for a moment," Carmelita said as she deftly grabbed her fiancé's behind.

"If that's how you're going to be, maybe we should visit your parents more often," Sly told her with a coy smile.

The door opened and the couple was greeted by the Fox family: Carmelita's parents, Emilio and Alma and her sister Carmen and her husband, Carlos.

Sly was warmly welcomed by the whole family and was extremely glad that he worked for Interpol. Being a cop seemed to be the only thing he had in common with Carmelita's family: he stuck out like sore thumb, the sole gray raccoon in a room of red foxes.

Sly was more reserved than normal during the conversation. His awkwardness must of have been obvious to Carmelita's parents.

"Girls, why don't you go in the kitchen and fix some drinks for everyone?"

"Sure madre," they said and left the room.

Carlos also took the hint. "Let me help you girls. We could always use a snack too," he said as he left.

Now it was just Sly and his future in-laws. He felt uneasy, though when he looked at Carmelita's parents, he saw that they both were smiling at him.

"It's okay Sly, we're a close family. Our Lita told us everything after you proposed: there's nothing to worry about now. Besides, Lita told us about the warm reception your 'family' gave her, and we want to be as equally accepting of you hijo," Alma said as she placed a reassuring hand on his knee.

Sly still wasn't sure about the situation: boy did he hate not being in control. He looked to Carmelita's dad to see how he felt.

"Yes, we know about your past, hijo. I've studied your file many times trying to see why you were giving Lita so much trouble. I've also seen your current file from Interpol: it helps being a senior officer here in Madrid. I know you've had a questionable past, but you seem to have reformed yourself."

Sly couldn't keep it in anymore and expressed what he was feeling.

"Yeah, but once a thief, always a thief, no?" Sly said with dead seriousness.

Emilio chuckled a bit to himself and then mused out loud.

"Yes, Lita did get her sense of the law from me, but it also seems that like me, she's gotten help to soften that harsh view of the world, no?" Emilio asked as he smiled at his wife and gently held her hand.

Sly just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He expected to get chewed out, at least a little. What he didn't expect was the understanding that he just received.

"From your confused look, I assume that you expected me to be bit more harsh, no?"

"Not to be rude, but, well, yeah."

Emilio chuckled to himself again. "I must say that I did tense up a bit when I first heard the news that our daughter was engaged, and to her old nemesis nonetheless. But as I just told you, I'm a more mature man than I was when Lita was growing up. A black and white understanding of the law may work when one's younger, but life is too complicated to hold onto that view for too long, no amor?" he asked his wife.

"Si, I remember trying to teach you that for many years," Alma replied.

"Si, I have a thick head, no? I'm glad you kept teaching me until I finally learned," Emilio kissed his wife tenderly on the head.

"I'm glad that you helped our Lita realize that, and a lot sooner than I did. It seems that you're good for our daughter, and I suspect that she has been good for you, no?"

Sly had decided that this wasn't the time to be polite, but to bear his true feelings.

"Si, your daughter has helped me realize what is important in life. If it weren't for her taking the chance on me that she did, I would have still had an empty life. I was too stubborn to realize that I had what I needed all along and that I needed to shelf my pride in order to get it. Carmelita helped me do that. I always thought I was fearless, but she had the courage to do what I probably never would have done. I don't think I could ever repay her for the gift she gave me."

"You could start by being a loving husband, no?" Emilio told him, smiling.

"Si!" Sly responded with a big smile on his face.

"Well then, Bienvenidos a la familia!"

Sly realized what his words meant. He was accepted, this reformed thief was accepted as a member of one of the most renown police families.

"Gracias," Sly said humbly.

"Dios mio! Now that the formalities are over, can we now see the lively Sly Cooper that our daughter has gushed about for months?!" Alma said practically exasperated.

"Si." Sly said with a laugh and hugged his new parents.

-----------------------------

With Emilio and Alma's approval, the visit was much more enjoyable for everyone. Sly was happy that things were going well and thought that he would get through the visit unscathed. That is until the second to last night they were at the hacienda, when Emilio had stood up in front of the family.

"Since we will soon have a new officer in the family," he smiled at Sly, "I think we should break him in the traditional Fox family way."

"Papa, no!" Carmen gasped. Carlos also looked a little worried.

"Emilio, maybe you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" Alma cautioned him.

"No, I would like to do this. I do want to be a full fledged member of the Fox family," Sly said, walking over to Emilio.

"Sly, I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into," Carmelita warned him.

"Nonsense! Like the boy said, he's family now! So the two of us will go out and we'll see everyone tomorrow," Emilio said as he clapped his new son on the back and led him outside to his car.

When they left, the family worriedly looked at each other. Then Carlos broke the tension.

"I hope your new esposo likes to drink."

"He gets buzzed after one. He's not much of a drinker, though he's also not one to back down from a challenge," Carmelita explained.

"You better start making the coffee now, hermana," Carmen teased her sister.

They all started to laugh at the thought of the state the raccoon would be in come morning…

-----------------------------

"He's a fine cop and a good man, but that boy cannot hold his liquor," Emilio told his wife as he carried in the passed out Sly Cooper, "I must say that he gave it a good shot, but este hijo is just a featherweight," he continued as he put Sly down on the couch.

"It seems that only the Foxes have a decent tolerance to alcohol mi amor. I do remember a similar situation when Carlos married our Carmen," Alma teased her husband as she placed a blanket over her sleeping son.

"I guess you're right. I remember Lita was the only one who I had a hard time keeping up with!"

"Dios mio! You know I don't approve of this ritual of yours."

"Yo se, mi amor. But it did show me how much este hijo wants to be part of our family."

"It's because he deeply loves our daughter. Carlos put up with the same hangover Sly is going to have for Carmen."

"Si, it's good to know our daughters found such good men who love them so much."

"So much as to put up with the antics of their padre loco?"

"Si mi amor," Emilio laughed as he kissed his wife.

-----------------------------------

It was true: Sly had to take most of the day to get over his colossal hangover. Carmelita took care of him, well, mostly.

"I told you that going along with my father's 'ritual' was a bad idea."

"Yeah, but I think we had a good time. I know I did, at least until I passed out."

"Poor ringtail, you know, I was the only one who was able to keep up with the old man," Carmelita said as she stroked her fiancé's cheek.

"I believe that, querera," Sly said weakly, before he fell asleep again.

Luckily, Sly felt much better that night, since it was their last night with Carmelita's family. Naturally, they had a big dinner in honor of the new couple. There was a lot of excitement and discussion of the upcoming nuptials and plans for the Fox women to get together in Pairs and start planning for the wedding.

-------------------------------------------

"Thank you all for your hospitality and for accepting me as part of your family," Sly said as he and Carmelita said goodbye to her family before their trip home.

"Hey, if you passed Carmelita's standards then you can't be all bad hermano," Carmen teased the couple as she gave them a final hug.

-----------------------------------------

"Well, I guess the visits went better than I though they would, wouldn't you agree, Lita?" Sly said as the couple drove towards the airport, flinching as the remark was met with a poke in his side.

"Only my parents can call me that, ringtail."

"Oh, come on, I think it's cute. Besides, you have so many pet names for me, why can't I have one for you?"

"Who said they were ever pet names?" Carmelita smartly retorted, as the two of them laughed at the joke.


	7. The Wedding and Beyond

The engagement was extremely short, since both Sly and Carmelita were eager to officially start their new life together. Besides their families, most of Interpol came to the ceremony of two of their most successful officers, (luckily, the Cooper gang had been off the radar for a while, so Bentley, Murray and Penelope were only met with pleasantries from the officers) as well as some of Sly's past friends. The Guru came to offer his spiritual blessing, though most of the guests weren't sure of what he said at all. Jean King came and offered her blessing and that of her father. Sly had invited the Panda King (wow, a member of the Fiendish Five invited to Sly Cooper's wedding, the world's a crazy place, ain't it folks?), but he respectfully declined since he thought it wasn't prudent for a former member of the Fiendish Five to attend an event with so many Interpol officers present. He felt the attention should naturally be on the new couple and not himself. And everyone was shocked and impressed to see the celebrity skin diver, Dimitri Cousteau, make an appearance. The new couple was a little surprised (but happy) to see him since he didn't receive an invitation. Sly figured, why waste the paper when he was sure his old friend would show up to grace everyone with his presence. The wedding was an incredible night and the new couple spent their honeymoon week at their new home: they already traveled around the world for work and decided that the most exotic thing for them would be an actual week off from work at home.

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Speaking of home:

The two of them sold their apartments in the city and bought an old farm a little outside the suburbs of Paris. The farmhouse was large enough for them and their entire 'extended family' if they so chose to visit. They also turned the old barn into a training area, complete with work-out machines and a place for sparring, gymnastics, martial arts, etc. This extra space allowed the two of them to spend a little more time at home since they didn't need to use the Paris Interpol work out facilities as often, and it allowed them to continually sharpen their skills. Besides, nothing turned the two of them on like a bout of intense physical and verbal sparring. The property was also large enough for the two of them to occasionally relive some of their past days and practice their agility and tracking techniques. I mean, they really couldn't run around the rooftops of Paris now to rekindle some of that early excitement and passion they had. So chasing each other around their property at night was a good substitute. Sly preferred it that way anyway: there were no shock pistol blasts to dodge and it was never a bad thing if he got caught!

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The couple had consummated their relationship on their wedding night (when else would you do it?) and a month or so after they had settled down in their Parisian farm, both were overjoyed to discover that Carmelita was pregnant. Sly predictably became the doting husband and Carmelita had to put her foot down at times in order to let him know that she appreciated his help, but that she was really more than capable of doing most things for herself. If Carmelita became self-conscious about her pregnancy weight, she wasn't able to show it.

"You know Carmelita, pregnancy has done something to you that I never thought was possible."

"What's that Cooper?" she asked on guard and Sly knew to be careful since she would call him by his surname when she got a little annoyed with him.

"It's made you even more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined," he replied as he came up behind her and kissed her cheek and gently rubbed her pregnant belly.

"You are such a generous woman," he told her.

"I know, but what's the reason this time?"

"Because you've given me another wonderful gift," again he rubbed her belly gently.

Carmelita couldn't believe how sappy her husband was getting: wasn't he the same Sly Cooper that used to taunt her and give her so much agitation? She realized that this apparently suave ladies' man was really a fragile little boy after all: one who was overjoyed at having a family again. Though if she was honest with herself, beneath the exterior she took so much care in building up, she was just a sad little girl at times. Carmelita knew that though both of them seemed so strong from the outside, they had both been falling apart internally. She now understood her husband's seemingly over the top affection for her and for their child: their current life was a true gift. If things had not proceeded exactly the way that they had occurred, if she had told Sly that he was a master thief and not her partner, or if Sly didn't accept the idea, none of this would have happened: she would have burned herself out in her obsession over work, he would have become a lonely husk of a thief, and neither of them would have realized true happiness on the paths they had formerly walked alone. Carmelita turned and passionately kissed her husband.

"What was that for, querera?"

"An apology for getting frustrated at your over the top affection towards me. I just figured out what you've known for a while- how lucky we truly are and how miserable we both would have been if things didn't turn out the way they did."

"I know, but I found out it's best to not dwell on that anymore. It's too depressing a thought. Besides, we have too much of a future together to be focusing on the past," and he hugged her as they both caressed the area where their new child was resting.

------------------------------------

about 8 months later:

The new parents looked at the little raccoon girl nestled in her mother's arms. She had her father's coloring: she was gray all over, including her face, which, like her dad's, was missing the typical 'mask' around the eyes, though she also had three black rings around her tail. The rest of her was more like her mother: she had a fluffier fox-like tail, her ears and facial features looked more like Carmelita's and she had raven black hair. The tiny raccoon looked up at her parents with her brown eyes and the pair of them beamed at their little Sadie Cooper.

Sly was just beside himself with happiness. He never imagined that this was where his life would have taken him. It was funny, he felt more fulfilled now as a husband and father than he ever did before. He now had the two most precious things in the world, 'mis chicas', his girls. This was the treasure he earned while in the Cooper Vault and it was worth everything he had been through to get it.

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Though Sly and Carmelita were loving parents, there was one thing that none of their years of training could have prepared them for: their new little girl. There seemed to be one big disadvantage to Sadie being both a Cooper and a Fox: she had an almost endless supply of energy that didn't seem to wane night or day. She was a happy, content little thing and wasn't too troublesome, she just never seemed to have an off button (though when she did fall asleep, she was usually out cold, in order to store up more energy for later!). Sadie would eventually outgrow her precociousness, but like her parents, she never seemed to be able to be more than a few steps away from trouble…

------------------------------------

When Sadie was about two, her father was carrying her in his arms around the house. He stopped in front of the hallway mirror and showed her their reflections.

"Look, that's daddy," Sly said as he pointed to his reflection, "and that's Sadie," he pointed to her reflection.

"See. Daddy," he pointed to himself again. "Sadie," he pointed to her.

Sly expected his daughter to get excited about seeing their reflections, but she got quiet as her big brown eyes stared at the reflections looking at her. Whatever she was thinking was starting to upset her.

Carmelita walked into the hall to see her family standing in front of the mirror: she noticed that Sadie was starting to look upset as she looked from her reflection to her dad's. A realization hit Carmelita.

"I'm surprised I figured this out before you," she whispered into her worried husband's ear as she gently touched his shoulder and started to remove his mask.

When Sadie saw her father's new reflection in the mirror, she took a minute and thoughtfully looked from his reflection to hers and back to his again.

"Daddy!" she gleefully yelled as she looked at him and grabbed his face, bringing his to hers and nosing him, "Daddy."

Carmelita smiled and put the mask in front of Sly's eyes again. "Who's this?" she asked her daughter.

"Daddy!" Sadie exclaimed.

"And this?" she asked as she took the mask away and showed her daughter Sly's plain gray face again.

"Daddy."

"Who's this?" she asked as she placed the mask on her daughter's face and showed her daughter her reflection.

Sadie pondered the reflection for a second, smiled and let out a joyful, yet whispered, "Sadie!"

"Yes. Now who's this?" Carmelita said as she took the mask off of her daughter and showed her the new reflection.

"Sadie!" her daughter exclaimed, proud of her new realization.

Carmelita put her daughter down and the pair watched as she played in the hallway with the blue mask, putting it on and off and getting excited when she caught her reflection in glass or another reflective surface.

----------------------------------------------

A few days later, Alma had come to stay with her daughter's family for a while to help take care of Sadie while Carmelita went back to work, as well as to enjoy her first grandchild.

"Abuela, mis ojos, my eyes!"

Alma got worried and carefully examined her granddaughter's eyes, worried that she had irritated them somehow.

"There's nothing wrong with your eyes, nieta," she said relieved, "now go play and abuela will make you some lunch."

When lunch was ready, Alma noticed that the house was unusually quiet.

"What is that granddaughter of mine up to?" she thought to herself. Alma had raised two Fox girls and she knew how rambunctious they were. She could hardly imagine the trouble that a Fox _and_ Cooper child could get into. She finally found her granddaughter in her parent's room, enjoying looking at herself in her mother's full-length mirror with what looked like a homemade mask wrapped around her face and a pair of scissors and one of her father's blue shirts cut up lying on the floor.

Sadie stopped and looked at her grandmother in her new Cooper mask and looked a little worried. Her grandmother just smiled at her and said.

"Que bonita! You're parents will be quite surprised when they come home today. Now let's go get some lunch."

The little girl was napping when her parents came home. Alma told them that there was a surprise for them and to not get upset. The two of them looked at their sleeping daughter and saw the new addition to her angelic face.

"She made it herself today, out of one of your shirts, hijo," Alma said, squeezing her son, as she brought them into their bedroom and showed them the tattered remains of one of Sly's old thief shirts.

"I guess this means we should get her a proper mask," Sly replied, the two Fox women laughing in reply.

-----------------------------------

Sadie didn't have too much trouble fitting in with the other children when she started school: she was a bright, funny and outgoing child and she had a lot of friends when she started school. As she got older though, Sadie started to get tired of the cliques and bullies and just general nonsense of school and stopped trying to 'earn' other people's friendships. She was friendly to everyone, but she just wasn't going to jump through hoops to fit in. Around the same time, she started to develop a certain pair's sense of right and wrong.

When a pair of the school bully's underpants had mysteriously disappeared from his gym locker and appeared on the head of the ten foot statue in front of the school, only two individuals knew who had the ability to pull off such a feat.

"It looks like we need to reign in some of your daughter's excessive energy Mr. Cooper."

"Any suggestions Mrs. Cooper?"

"Well, I do have one suggestion…." as a smile spread across the vixen's face….

----------------

"Gymnastics? Why do I have to take gymnastics classes?" the young raccoon complained.

"Your father and I feel that they will give you an outlet for that excess energy of yours."

"Besides mi hija, think of this as the cost for your mother and I keeping quiet about who placed that boy's under shorts on the statue," Sly said as he smiled proudly and kissed her on the head.

"Well, he had it coming to him. He had been terrorizing the chess club so much and they did nothing to deserve it. It was so frustrating to see nothing done about it, so I took things into my own hands," Sadie vented to her parents.

"It looks like someone is developing her mother's temper," Sly teased with a smile.

"And her father's sense of justice," Carmelita teased back.

-----------------

For all the complaining she did when she found out she was signed up for gymnastics classes (pre-teens, go figure), Sadie took well to the sport. Besides doing well, she really enjoyed herself. Her parents were right: she did some type of outlet for her energy, she was a natural at it (for some reason, ) and she seemed to get along better with the girls in her class since they all shared a common interest.


	8. Bentley and Murray

After being playfully hounded by his girlfriend since Sly and Carmelita's wedding, Bentley finally took the plunge and married Penelope. The couple were doing well for themselves: Penelope had gotten her Master's degree in mechanical engineering and was teaching at one of the local colleges. Bentley had worked at a tech company a while and had amassed such a reputation as a computer/hacking genius that he was able to set off as a freelance computer tech/consultant. Though it took some convincing on her part, Penelope finally talked Bentley into doing some teaching at her school as an adjunct professor. Bentley wasn't sure that he'd fit in with the typical academic types, but soon enjoyed the time he spent teaching: he was such a good teacher (and had such a good grasp on the material) that he was asked to teach some of the more 'advanced' classes.

Around the time Sadie was two, Penelope gave birth to twins: Chelsea, a mouse girl with blonde hair, and Ben, a turtle boy (Chelsea being older than her brother by three minutes, and being twins- those minutes were extremely important!). They were pretty much the spitting images of their parents as they got older, though Ben tended to excel more at radio controlled things and Chelsea was a little better at computers. The twins were basically home schooled. It was easier on everyone: the pair of them had a wide range of interests and would quickly blow through books of physics, art, history whatever, in order to get their hands on more and their home was practically like living in a museum/science center with all the artifacts their parents collected from their travels, as well as the numerous projects around the house that were in various stages of completion. The twins had a wide variety of interests: science, literature, music, history, though the pair of them tended to be on the techno-geek side of things and enjoyed all things gaming and RPGs as they got older.

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Around the time Sadie was eight, there was a final addition to the Cooper extended family when the main lady in Murray's life changed from his racing van to his adopted daughter, Tonya.

During one of Murray's races, he noticed a little boy hanging around his garage after the race

"Hey kid, what's up?"

The little lion boy just looked at him. He was dressed in sneakers, shorts, a t-shirt and a big baseball cap on his head. He just stood there looking at Murray.

"Did you get to see the race?"

He shook his head yes.

"Did you like the race?"

He shook his head yes.

"Did you like the Murray?"

The kid just stood there.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Murray. Did you like how I drove in the race?"

He shook his head yes.

Murray looked around the racetrack to see if this little boy had wandered away from anyone. He didn't want the kid's parents to worry.

"Do you know where your parents are?"

The kid just stood there and looked down at his shoes.

Murray started to worry a bit. He hoped this little boy wasn't lost.

"Did you come here all by yourself?"

The boy shook his head yes.

"Wow, aren't you a big guy to come here on your own to see the races."

Though his hat was covering most of his face, Murray could see a grin starting to spread across it.

'Okay Murray, what should you do?' Murray thought to himself. He liked this kid and wanted to do the right thing.

"Would you like me to drive you home?"

The kid thought for a moment, then shook his head no.

"Oh, okay, would you like to go for a ride with me instead?"

He shook his head yes.

Murray walked to the van and opened the passenger side for the little boy. He then lifted him up and placed him in the seat, buckling his seat belt. Murray got in and before he started the van, he noticed the little lion staring rather intently at all the knobs and dials on the dashboard.

"Do you like my van?"

The kid shook his head yes.

"Here, let me show you how some of this stuff works…" and Murray went through a quick crash course of how to operate the van.

The racetrack had nearly emptied out when they started to drive away, so Murray started to believe that the kid did come there alone. Murray knew that he needed to get some more information from the kid, at least his name and maybe where he lived. He figured that this kid's parents might start to get worried. Murray realized that he always felt a lot calmer and talkative after he had a good meal, so he figured that might be the trick with this kid.

"Are you hungry?," he asked the boy as he played with the radio knobs, changing the music from a pop song, to Latin fusion, to an all polka station.

The kid enthusiastically nodded his head yes.

"Well good, because I know just the place to go."

In about five minutes, Murray pulled into the parking lot of his favorite diner. He usually came here after he raced to celebrate over some good burgers and milkshakes. Murray turned the car off, got out and then opened the passenger side door to let the kid out.

"We're here," Murray announced to his guest with a big smile.

The two of them went in and sat down at one of the booths. It was a retro fifty's style dinner: it had a soda fountain and the place was decorated with fifty's memorabilia. The little lion looked around in awe at all the decorations.

"Do you like the place?"

He nodded yes.

A friendly shrew waitress came over to their booth.

"Hey Murray, nice to see you again. How'd your race go?"

"Oh, hi Shirley, it went fine."

"I'm assuming you mopped the floor with your competition again. Though I know you're not one to brag."

"Well, yeah, I did win the race again," Murray said sheepishly.

"It looks like you have company tonight."

"Huh, oh, yeah! Where are my manners," Murray said as he looked at his new friend.

"This is Shirley. She works here. I guess I'm kind of a regular here."

"Kind of? He's in here after every race, usually celebrating a victory," Shirley said with a wink to the boy, "Like the big guy said, I'm Shirley. What's your name?" the waitress asked as she extended a hand to the timid boy.

"Uh, Tony," the little lion said as he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Tony. Do you know what you want?"

The boy shook his head no.

"Well, I know what you want," she said to Murray as she playfully hit him with her order book.

"What's that?" the lion got brave and asked.

"Well, every time he comes in here, the big guy orders two cheeseburgers, an order of fries, some onion rings and a chocolate sundae, but we refer to it as a 'Murray'," Shirley said teasing Murray.

"Could I have THAT?" Tony asked his new friend hopefully.

"Sure… if you think you can handle it," Murray answered a little shocked. He hoped the boy's eyes weren't bigger than his stomach.

"Two 'Murray's' Shirley," Murray enthusiastically ordered.

When the food came, Murray was surprised, but impressed to see that the kid's appetite seemed to match his. Tony was finishing up his sundae, the four empty plates surrounding him on the table, when Shirley came back with their check.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see anyone who could match your appetite Murray!"

"Yeah, Tony's a pretty cool kid."

"Thanks," Tony said as he dropped his spoon into his empty sundae bowl and let out a little burp.

"Ready to go?" Murray asked his new buddy, really starting to get attached to the kid.

"Oh,…okay."

"See you later Shirley."

"See you next week Murray, and I hope to see you again, Tony."

"Bye," Tony said, as he absentmindedly grabbed Murray's hand as they walked out of the diner. Murray looked down as he felt the small paw grab his hand and he smiled at the boy.

'Man, I hope everything's okay with this kid,' Murray thought, still wondering about what circumstances brought the boy to him today.

"Is there any place I can drop you off?" Murray asked Tony before they drove out of the diner parking lot.

"There's the bus stop I got off at when I came to the race today."

"The bus? I don't want to make a big deal about it, but you seem a little bit young to be riding the bus by yourself."

"I'm ten and I take care of myself. I've taken the bus before to see the races before, so the driver knows me," the boy said a little defensively.

"Okay, I'll wait with you until the bus comes. If the driver really knows you, I'll let you take the bus home. Deal?"

Tony thought about it for a bit before he reluctantly said, "Deal."

They waited at the stop near the racetrack for the bus.

"Uh, Tony?"

"Yeah Murray?"

"I know I said that I don't like the idea of you riding the bus by yourself, but if you're allowed to, then I wouldn't mind it if you visited me more often at the racetrack. You could come before the race if you wanted to. I could even teach you more about fixing and maybe even driving the van. Just let the guys at the gate know that you're here to see me. I'll let them know that I'll be expecting you and there shouldn't be any trouble."

"Really? Do you mean it Murray?"

"The Murray always means what he says."

"Gee, thanks. I'll come back. I promise."

"Tony, there's one more thing," Murray said as he pulled out a pen and scribbled something down on the back of the receipt from the diner.

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking if you wanted to talk, or needed something, a friend or whatever, this is my phone number. Don't hesitate to call me, okay."

"Okay," Tony said as he gave Murray a small hug, just as the bus was pulling up.

Before Tony got on the bus, Murray walked up to the elderly otter driver.

"Excuse me, but I had a deal with this little guy here," he pointed to Tony, "If you knew who he was, really knew who he was, then I'd let him take the bus home by himself."

The driver looked at Murray and then Tony, smiled and said, "Sure I know Tony. He comes this way almost every week to see the races. I'm glad he's made a friend who cares about him."

"Well okay, maybe I'll see you in a week," Murray said hesitantly.

"Okay, bye Murray," Tony said quietly as he got on the bus.

----------------------

Tony showed up two weeks later while Murray was getting ready for the race. The hippo was disappointed and a little worried when he didn't see the boy last week, but he let out a big smile when he saw the kid. Murray led Tony to a seat up front so he could watch during the race and then he let the kid help him work on the van a little after the race, before he brought him to the bus stop.

Murray started looking forward to Tony's visits. It seemed like the boy tried to come every week, though there were times when he wouldn't be able to come for a week or two. Murray kept showing him how to work on the van and the kid was very bright and picked things up really fast. Everything was going pretty well, until after one of the races. Murray was congratulating Tony on a job well done, when he pat him on the back a little too hard and accidentally knocked off his hat.

"Oops, sorry there Tony. Let me get that for you," Murray said as he picked up the hat to give to his friend.

"No, that's okay Murray. I can get it myself," the lion said, getting more upset as Murray turned around to give him his hat back.

"No problemmo Ton… Tony?" Murray saw a very upset little lioness in front of him, who was nearly in tears and started to run away from him.

Luckily, Murray thought fast (for once, bless the big guy- maybe that dreamtime training finally helped him out) and caught the little girl before she got away and gave her a big hug. This surprised the lioness and she looked up at Murray through tear soaked eyes.

"Let's go into my van where we can talk in private, okay."

She shook her head yes.

"What's up?" he tenderly asked her.

"Murray, don't be mad. I didn't mean to fool you, I just thought that I wouldn't be taken seriously at the racetrack if everyone knew I was a girl. I mean, I get made fun of a lot for being a girl that likes cars."

"Tony…I mean…"

"It's Tonya."

"Tonya, huh, that's a pretty name," she smiled at that, though she still continued to tear up and sniffle.

"Look Tonya, I don't care at all if you're a boy or a girl, I think you're a really cool kid and I've really grown attached to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Now, like I said before, what's up?"

Tonya took a deep breath and told Murray that she has been living at a local orphanage since her parents passed away when she was younger. She didn't like it there because the kids would tease her about being different and she knew that most prospective parents wanted to adopt babies and not older kids. That's why she would sneak out and go to the races, just to get away from her life for a while: though she would get found out and be punished for sneaking out. That's why she couldn't come every week. Though they tried to stop her, Tonya had always found a new way to sneak out and spend some time with Murray. Murray listened to the story and realized how lucky he was for finding Bentley and Sly when he was living in the orphanage. He also started thinking that he wanted to do more for this precious girl than just be her friend.

"You know what Tonya? I'm an orphan. I lived in an orphanage too. It wasn't too bad though, I met my two best friends there."

"Really?"

"Yep. Now I think I have a plan, but you need to trust me, okay?"

She thought for a second and then hugged the big hippo and nodded her head yes.

"Okay, you may not like it at first, but trust me with this. We're going to need to go to the orphanage and I'm going to need to talk to the director, okay?"

Tonya's eyes got wide at the thought of how much punishment she would get.

Murray seemed to sense what she was thinking and told her, "Don't worry, I'll explain everything and let them know that you shouldn't be punished, okay?"

"Okay."

When they got to the orphanage, Murray brought the little girl to the director's office and asked her to sit outside and wait for him while he had a word with the lady owl director.

Tonya nervously swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the bench outside the office and waited for her friend. Murray came out a little while later with a tentative smile on his face.

"Well here it goes, the good news is that I've been allowed to start the adoption process. The bad news is that your director feels that me being a single guy and a racecar driver might make things difficult, so there's no guarantee that the adoption will occur. The other good news though is that I asked the director if I could visit you and she said that I could come as often as I wanted and that me visiting may help the adoption process. I know it's a lot to throw at you, so what do you think?"

Tonya just stood there in disbelief as she took in all that he said: he wanted to be her dad. Someone wanted her, and he was the coolest and kindest someone she knew. Yeah, there may be the chance that the adoption wouldn't occur, but at least in the meantime he would be able to visit her.

"So is that a yes? Because if it is, I could visit you every week or every day or every other day, whatever you want…" Murray rambled on nervously.

Tonya just pounced on the big guy full of happiness in her eyes.

"Could you come every day?" she said in a hushed tone, almost afraid to fully voice her wish for fear it wouldn't come true.

"Sure I could, how about right after school. Does that sound good?"

She nodded her head yes.

"And can I still hang out with you at the races?"

"I don't see why not, but let's go back in the office and clear things with the director, okay?"

She enthusiastically nodded her head yes.

Murray kept his word and visited Tonya everyday around four. They talked about her day, Murray helped her with her homework (or tried to in some cases), played outside with Tonya or they played video games inside and in general just enjoyed each other's company. The adoption proceedings were actually going well. Murray's past checked out clean (with Bentley's help manufacturing a work history for Murray that accounted for his time with the gang), his references were solid (why else wouldn't they be if you had two head Interpol cops and two geniuses saying what a kind, responsible and caring person you were) and the time he spent with Tonya really did help: she was doing better in school and stopped getting in trouble at the orphanage now that she had someone to care about her and serve as a positive role model. Finally the day the two of them anxiously waited for came and Tonya legally became Murray's daughter. Tonya got really excited because not only did she get a new dad, but she also had two new sets of uncles and aunts and three younger cousins- a whole entire family just for her- who greeted her with a big party the day the adoption was legal.

--------------------------

It took a little bit of time for the perpetual bachelor to adjust to living with a young girl and to serve as both her father and mother, but he put his all into it. Besides, Tonya was so thankful for her 'pops' (this was the name she called him and Murray was quite fond of it) that she cut him a lot of slack when they first got settled. It also didn't hurt that she was a tomboy at heart, so luckily, Tonya wasn't into any of the normal girlie stuff that Murray knew nothing about. Though not biologically related, the slender young lioness seemed to be a chip off the ol' Murray: she was able to pick up how to fix and drive cars and vans from her dad and she even prompted him to start teaching her some of his work out routines and patented fighting moves. Murray loved that he shared the same interests with his daughter, but he did his best to raise a daughter, though with some comical results. Tonya still cracks up when she remembers how flustered her dad was when they went shopping for her first bra: for such a large man, he almost fainted when they entered the shop for the first time. She was also extremely grateful to have Murray for her dad when she had her prom. He had offered to beat up any guy that didn't treat her right, but she sat him down and said that it wouldn't be a problem since she wasn't interested in asking a guy to the prom. It took Murray a second, but he understood what his daughter was telling him and he gave her a big hug. He told her that there was nothing wrong with being herself and that she should be proud of it. He also told her that he was ashamed and felt bad for being so big and different from everyone else, but then he realized that his differences were what made him who he was and made him special. Tonya hugged her father back and told him how lucky she was to have found him.


	9. A New Gang?

Carmelita had a rare moment to herself. It was her and Sly's day off and the raccoon had decided to have some 'father-daughter time' with Sadie at the zoo. The vixen decided it was a good time to finish the novel she had been ignoring. As she was about to sit down, Carmelita glanced at the photos on the side table: that infamous picture of the dance she and Sly shared in India almost a lifetime ago: aside from the trouble it caused her, Carmelita had to admit that it was one of the more fond moments she had shared with her husband, a picture of her and Sly in the hospital holding Sadie right after she was born: Carmelita felt she looked horrible in that picture, but relented and let Sly put it up when he told her that there was no more beautiful picture of her, thinking back on his words reminded Carmelita how lucky she was to have him, not to mention how lucky he was to have her. Her eyes finally rested on a recent photo, which she picked up to get a closer look. It was of Sly, Bentley and Murray together with their son and daughters. She smiled as she saw the three former members of the Cooper Gang together with their families. When she tangled with those guys, she never foresaw this: all three of them as proud fathers. She felt good to know that these orphans still had each other and now had families of their own, all girls nonetheless (besides Ben).

As she looked at her daughter and her nieces and nephew in the photo, Carmelita was troubled as she saw the possibility of a new Cooper Gang, a more feminine one, but a new Gang anyways. The vixen was a little concerned for her daughter. Yes, she had great respect for Sly's family (once she got over the whole 'all thieves are bad' mindset), but wasn't sure if being part of the Cooper Clan was more of a curse for its members. Carmelita didn't know how things were for Sly's ancestors, but she knew the trouble Sly and his parents had faced. She shuddered at the fate her husband's parents endured and knew how close both she and Sly had come to wasting away with their unrequited love. Naturally, she didn't want her daughter to face such troubles, though she knew the thrill of Sly's old lifestyle. Before Sadie was born, Sly would occasionally take her for 'Cooper' nights out on the town. She had learned a lot of Sly's moves and felt invigorated when they would silently race around the Parisian rooftops. Granted they weren't out stealing anything and sometimes used these times to stake out certain suspects. Obviously, Carmelita realized that she would have been just as at home in Sly's world as he was in hers, this observation made her realize how much they belonged together, but she was glad that they were working with the authorities instead of against them. They didn't have to hide from anyone and besides, Sly was finally able to get real credit for his talents. Though, speaking of hiding things, there was the matter of what to tell Sadie about their past, if anything. Carmelita's inner cop was totally against telling the girl anything and just having her go into law enforcement. The real Carmelita agreed more with her husband: he felt it was better (and safer) to let their daughter know about their past when she was older and to have her decide about her future on her own.

'No secrets,' Sly had told her when he proposed. It was a funny perspective for a former thief to have, but it was the pillar of strength in their relationship ever since then. As Carmelita placed the photo back to enjoy her disturbance free afternoon, she thought once more of the 'new' Cooper Gang.

'Not if I can help it,' she said to herself and hoped that if that idea ever came up, their dads would push against it since they seemed to be more content in their current lives….

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It seemed that the bond Sly, Murray and Bentley shared with each other was also shared by their children. Though hundreds of miles apart, the cousins were extremely close to each other, especially the three girls (poor Ben). Being an only child, Sadie was real appreciative of her cousins and she got along with them quite well. She was two when her younger cousins were born, so she really didn't know of a time when she didn't have them in her life. Things with Tonya were a little less smooth at first, being that all of a sudden, Sadie wasn't the eldest in the family anymore. She did finally realize the benefit of having someone older who she could talk to about stuff that she was going through: of course she could always talk to her parents, but it was different talking to someone your own age. It also helped that the two of them weren't girly at all, though Tonya's style was a little different from hers. Tonya was more into the punk/metal scene. It probably was more that she fit in better with that crowd since she wasn't too feminine. When she was in high school, Tonya dyed her hair different colors and pierced her nose: her 'pops' didn't mind because he knew she did it because that was her. She wasn't rebelling or going along with the crowd: she was too strong a person and loved her dad too much to do it for those reasons. Sadie liked the fact that she had two brainiacs and a punk tomboy as cousins, she seemed to fit right in between the two extremes. In addition, though she would never have admitted it, Sadie liked the fact that her cousins were proud of who they were. Sadie wasn't always too sure about herself, though she didn't show it. She thought it might have been the fact that she wasn't totally in sync with her parents like her cousins were: she loved having two cops as parents, though sometimes she felt that they were holding something back from her.

Though they lived far apart, there wasn't a day when the cousins didn't contact each other. Thanks to 'uncle' Bentley, they were able to talk in real time over their computers, so they could see each other while they talked. Sadie started referring to her cousins as the 'gang', though her mother got annoyed every time she referred to them as that and Sadie had no idea why. They even had nicknames for each other, though it was really Sadie and Tonya who made up the nicknames: Tonya had referred to the twins once as the twinsees and Sadie loved it, so it stuck. Sadie, who was really close to Tonya would refer to her by 'T' and Tonya in turn would call her 'Sades'. Sadie never cared that she wasn't close with anyone at her school because her cousins were her best friends and all she really needed.


	10. No Secrets

As Sadie got older, she started to realize that once in a while, her parents would get a little uncomfortable around her. It looked like her father wanted to tell her something, while her mother looked dead set against it. This made her feel nervous and upset. So far she had a good childhood: her parents were so loving, not only with her, but with each other and this occasional tension between them was unusual. Her parents had a very open relationship with each other and with her. It wasn't a real policy, but there were just no secrets in the Cooper family. Their actions made her doubt this. Finally, right before her thirteenth birthday, Sadie had enough of this weird behavior and asked her parents if she could talk to them. She had said that there was something she wanted to discuss with them.

"Sure mi hija, what do want to talk about?" her father asked as he and her mother sat down on the couch across from her.

"Look, I don't want to make things worse, but I've noticed a building tension between you guys for a while, especially after looking at me. Are you two thinking of breaking up, but are only together because of me?" she vented her suspicions to her parents, on the verge of tears.

Her parents became upset and got up and comforted the nearly crying girl.

"Is that what you thought hija?" her father asked her in his comforting way that he always talked to her in.

"Honey, your father and I are fine, besides we've been through too much and love each other and you very deeply to ever think of separating," Carmelita said as she and Sly hugged their daughter. Carmelita kissed Sadie on the head, while Sly kissed his wife on the head.

"If you're fine, then why all the suspicious behavior aimed at me?"

Sadie's parents looked at each other. Sly had an 'I told you so' look in his eyes, while Carmelita was expressing great displeasure in her eyes.

"You promised, querera. If she asked, we would tell her. Besides, she's old enough for what we discussed."

"Fine," his wife said, finally giving in to her husband, "but remember the conditions we talked about."

"I wouldn't dream of going against you, querera," Sly replied with a smirk, that his wife finally caved in and returned.

"What's going on?!" Sadie screamed, finally not able to contain her curiousness.

"Listen, honey, you know that we don't keep secrets, right?" her mother asked her.

Sadie nodded.

"Well, we felt that in order to keep you safe, we had to keep some things from you while you were younger."

"In fact, hija, it's your safety that's the reason your mother and I decided a while ago to have this conversation with you when we felt you were ready."

"What? What have you been keeping from me?" Sadie's curiosity couldn't be contained any longer.

Sly looked at his wife and waited for her to nod before he continued.

"Sadie, before your mother and I worked as partners at Interpol, we had a different type of relationship."

"What kind of relationship, dad?" Sadie asked quietly, cueing off the seriousness in his voice.

"Well, to get to the point, I was born into a family of Master Thieves and your mother was assigned to my case. She had been chasing me for years before I finally came to my senses and joined her on the same side of the law."

Sadie couldn't do anything but just stare at her parents, disbelief plastered all over her young face.

"Sly, it would probably be best if you just start at the beginning and continued until you came to Interpol," Carmelita said as she caressed his hand with hers. She knew he was proud of his past, but could hear the shame in his voice for having to admit to his daughter that his life as an officer of the law went against who he originally was. Though she felt her noble husband had nothing to be ashamed about and hoped her gesture would show him that.

"Okay querera, but please feel free to add your point of view to the story when you want," Sly told his beloved.

"Of course," she quietly said to him as she kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

Sadie listened as she sat between her parents as her father and mother explained the main trilogy of events that made up Sly's former life. Sadie's eyes widened as she heard the stories of revenge, danger, romance, hilarity and betrayal her parents told her. She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing- encounters with mobsters, a voodoo priestess and hordes of ninjas; train robberies, bi-plane dogfights and an island full of mutant monsters. She couldn't believe that these events happened to her parents, as well as to her unassuming and doting uncles and aunt and she got a thrill imagining what it would be like to have similar adventures of her own. When Sly was finished, Carmelita caught the look of excitement in her daughter's eyes.

"We didn't tell you these stories to put crazy ideas in your head, hija," Sadie's mom sternly told her as she looked at her husband for support. He was sitting there thinking that the old times weren't so bad, when he was brought back to reality by his wife.

"Um, yeah. Look mi hija. I know that these stories sound exciting, but the reason we finally decided to let you know about our past is that I, _we_ feel that this past could come back and that it may come after you."

Sadie was stunned to hear this from her father and her eyes went even wider as she looked at her father for comfort.

"I don't want to scare you, maybe your mother does, but I don't," Sly said and smiled as his beloved hit him on the side of his head. "Look," he continued rubbing the side of his head, "those dangerous people who we defeated, a lot of them are still around. Granted most of them are in jail, but they could still pose a threat. Besides, your mother and I have put away numerous criminals since I joined Interpol and they could also pose a threat to our safety, though hopefully they won't. I know this is a hard subject to bring up, but we think it's an important subject and one you should be aware of. It's a scary fact, but those people who we put in jail may want to get back at us by harming you," there was a sad and terrified look in both her parents' faces that let her know that this wasn't a joke.

"I understand dad," Sadie paused for a moment, looking very solemn and added, "Is there anything I can do?"

Sly looked up at his daughter with real pride and happiness in his eyes.

"Good girl. That's the Cooper and Fox spirit. Well, I guess this leads us to your early birthday present," Sly looked at his wife and they both stood up.

"I thought, and your mother agreed, that since you're almost thirteen, we could start your training."

"Training?" Sadie was excited and apprehensive, "You mean to be a part of the Cooper Clan?"

Carmelita gave Sly a look that told him that he'd better derail this train of thought or he'd be in serious trouble.

"No, mi hija. You will receive training from both myself and your mother on skills that we learned in our jobs as a thief as well as with Interpol. The idea, at least what I keep trying to tell your mother," he smiled lovingly at Carmelita as she shot him another icy look, he knew he was going to pay for that tonight, "is that I feel that you should go through the training that both I received as a thief- minus some things," Carmelita's stare warmed up a little with that said, "and the training your mother received as a police officer. We feel this training will get you ready to deal with a lot of different situations. Now as to your future, I feel and your mother agrees…" here he gently touched Carmelita's hand and tried to calm her down- he knew her inner cop was trying to take over, but he knew his wife. Sure enough, she calmed down and squeezed his hand as she gave him a look that let him know that he could continue, "That it is up to you to decide. We will both try our best not to influence you. When you're old enough, it will be your choice to live your life your way, as a cop, as a thief, or whichever path you want to choose, though you do know the path your mother wants you to follow…" Sly knew what was coming with that comment and got a good knock to the back of the head by his gorgeous wife.

Sadie giggled at her parents and hugged them.

"You two are the best."

"Don't you know it, mi hija," her father replied.

"Now…" Sadie looked at her parents with a mischievous look in her eyes, "No more secrets?"

"No more secrets," her mother replied.

"Yeah," Sly added with a content look, "No more secrets."

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Sadie's training had begun in earnest promptly after the talk with her parents. She was thrilled to finally be permitted to use the barn where her parents worked out and that she wasn't allowed to enter when she was younger, but her excitement waned as she realized how serious her parents were taking this training. She had started off with one training a session once a week from each of her parents, (as she got more proficient in things, the number of sessions would increase, her parents explained) and soon wasn't sure if she dreaded training with her father or her mother worse. Granted, her parents had extremely busy careers and Sadie was thankful to spend more time with each of them, though she wasn't too thankful when her father was putting her through her paces or her mother kept constantly drilling her. In addition to her physical training, her father had given her his family's heirloom, an old book called the 'Thievius Racconus'. He told her that reading it would give her an understanding into the Cooper family history as well as information on how to do various moves that they would be practicing. Her mother also gave her an old photo album and some journals that gave Sadie a look at the Fox family history as well as help on moves that her mother worked on with her during training that would help counter the moves she learned with her father. With school, her gymnastics and these new training sessions, Sadie was starting to feel a little worn out. She couldn't even vent to her cousins because her parents told her that they let her uncles know that they explained their past to her and so told Sadie that she couldn't mention anything to her cousins until their parents let them know about their own pasts themselves (luckily it wasn't too long until the whole family knew. Still, in the meantime, Sadie felt frustrated without having anyone to vent to).

---------------------------------------------------

One morning at breakfast, Sly could see the frustration in his daughter's eyes and thought of a way to make her training a little more interesting.

"Sadie."

"Huh," Sadie said, pulling herself up from her bowl of cereal.

"I know training has been hard on you. So how about this: every time I feel you've done a good job at training, I'll let you ask me any question about my past, within reason, that I have to answer. I know that you know the basics about my past, but you don't know the real important stuff, like how to tick off Dimitri Cousteau or how dumb Mugshott really is."

Sadie started to grin at her father's proposition. Now she had a real reason to get through training, and once she informed her cousins of this, she knew that the four of them could come up with some _good_ questions for her to ask.

"Deal," she said as she shook her father's hand.

"I don't know if that's such a wise idea Sly," Carmelita remarked.

"Come on mom, this is good way to motivate me. Besides, I'll be even more motivated if you agree to it too."

Carmelita could see the Cooper in her daughter's scheming and shook her head, but decided that it was a decent way to motivate her daughter and to have her get to know her as more than her old 'madre'."

"Fine, besides I think it'll really motivate you to train harder when you have the opportunity to ask me about how your father really was when we first met," Carmelita said as she also shook her daughter's hand and gave Sly an evil grin.

"What?!, No fair!" Sly said to his two girls as they giggled at him.


	11. Mr Fuentes

Over the past two years, Sadie excelled in both her thief- and police-type training. Though nothing had prepared her to deal with one of the dangers of being a teenager- her first crush!

When Sadie was fifteen, her parents had told her that they would be having a guest living with them at the farm for a while. She didn't pay that much attention to what her parents said, but she knew that there was some new recruit who was going to be spending some time at their house while he went through training and got settled in. In fact, over the years, Carmelita and Sly had gotten the reputation of being one of the more sociable and hospitable couples at Interpol. With Sly's help, Carmelita's frigid exterior had melted and she was more friendly and personable with her fellow coworkers: besides all the male flirting and female backbiting stopped when she got married and had her daughter. It was also known around work that the two did have room for guests at their home, since they had thrown the occasional party at their home. It was only natural for the Brass to ask the Coopers if they wouldn't mind hosting one of their new recruits: he was an eighteen year old fox from Los Angeles, and this was his first time out of the States. The Interpol Brass thought that it would be best for him if he stayed with one of the officers while he was training, so he could ease into his new life. Sly eagerly accepted, he said that he knew what it was like being an 'American in Paris' and joked that it might be nice to have another guy around the house. The couple was told that this new officer would take a cab from the airport to their house when he arrived in Paris in two days.

Before their new guest arrived, Sadie's parents reminded her that she should make sure to keep any questionable belongings of her father's out of sight, that she wouldn't be going through 'thief training' with her father for a while but instead would have officer training with both her parents and that she shouldn't mention anything about her family's true past. If this new officer brought anything up, he would be told that it was just an unfortunate coincidence that Inspector Cooper shared the name with the Master Thief. Sadie just rolled her eyes at her parents: she knew better. The teenager was not thrilled about having to share her home, let alone her bathroom with a complete stranger, but her parents gave her no choice. Sadie was not pleased with her new situation and showed her displeasure by being in her room, video chatting with her cousins on her computer, when she heard the new guest arrive and introduce himself to her parents.

"Hi, Rick Fuentes. I really appreciate the fact that you're letting me stay here while I get moved in, Lieutenant Fox, Inspector Cooper," the six foot, svelte, muscular fox with short brown hair and hazel eyes said as he shook hands with Sly and Carmelita.

"We're glad to have you Rick. Why don't you bring your bags in and we can get acquainted before we show you your room."

"Yes Inspector Cooper," Rick replied politely.

"It's okay Rick. We have a rule: when we're not at work, it's Sly and Carmelita. Okay?"

"Okay sir. I mean Sly."

Rick brought his bags in and placed them in the hallway. He then followed the couple into their sitting room as they all sat down, Rick in an armchair across from his hosts.

"So, Fuentes, eh? Is Rick your given name then?" Carmelita asked the new officer slyly.

"Well, no it's actually Enrique, but I like Rick better."

"I thought so, you being from Los Angeles and all. You shouldn't be ashamed of your Hispanic heritage, hermano," Carmelita replied.

"Now querera," Sly playfully admonished his wife, "he likes his name the way it is, besides you don't want to scare him off before the first day, that's what the basic training is for," Sly said with a big grin on his face.

Carmelita looked around the room, getting more displeased by the second.

"Now where is that daughter of yours?" she asked her husband as she left the room and called upstairs.

"Sadie, where are your manners? Get down here and meet our guest."

"Si madre," Sadie yelled down the steps, a devilish grin on her lips since she knew her mother didn't like her daughter calling her that ('madre is _my_ mother', Carmelita would remark).

"Gotta go guys, I have to meet the 'rookie'," she said to her cousins.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, besides, maybe he'll be cute," Tonya said.

"That's great coming from you cuz," Sadie remarked as Tonya disconnected.

"Well, have fun." "Yeah, loads of fun," her younger cousins Chelsea and Ben said as they made faces and started laughing as Sadie turned off her computer.

"Sadie! Ahora!" Carmelita called up the stairs, getting more aggravated at her daughter.

"Coming!" Sadie yelled as she ran out of her room and rail slid down the banister.

Her mother came out of the sitting room again and caught her sliding.

"You know better to do that with our new guest here," Carmelita angrily whispered at her daughter as she grabbed her and brought her into the sitting room.

"You'll have to excuse Sadie, she's usually more punctual and polite."

"Mom, I had to say goodbye to the gang first, we were on the computer. It would have been impolite if I just left."

"Dios, 'the gang. Why don't you just say your cousins?" her mother replied exasperated.

"I think the name's cute, querera," Sly added with a smile.

"Enough of that," Carmelita said curtly though she smiled at her husband when she said it.

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, Rick Fuentes, this is our daughter, Sadie. You'll be staying in the room next to hers until you get situated at Interpol," Carmelita informed Rick as she finally calmed down.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Rick said as he extended a hand to Sadie.

"Yeah, likewise," Sadie said as she put her hand out to shake his and then looked at the man whose hand she was shaking for the first time since she came downstairs. Her mouth started to open as she gazed upon the eighteen year old, muscular Adonis in front of her.

"Oh, wow," she uttered before catching herself, "I mean hi." She tried to look nonchalant as she tried to hold back her blushing.

Rick didn't seem to notice, as he sat back down in his chair and started talking to Carmelita, who sat in the chair next to him.

Sly noticed his daughter's actions and gave her a hug as she sat next to him on the sofa across from the two police foxes.

"Don't worry, you're not the first Cooper to fall for a good looking officer of the law, mi hija," Sly whispered to Sadie as he gave her another hug.

"Dad…" Sadie whispered, obviously irritated as she blushed when he hugged her again.

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The good, or maybe the bad, news was that as Rick spent more time with the Coopers, he started treating Sadie like a little sister, and as such, hardly paid Sadie any attention the whole time he stayed with her family. During the few months he did stay at the Cooper house, Rick was trying extremely hard to make the force and so he tended to stay late at Interpol headquarters training. When he was home, he was more interested in discussing goings on at work with his new mentors than anything else.

Things didn't seem to be any different after Rick made the force and got his own place on his own. During his first official year on the force, he would visit pretty often, but usually to discuss cases with his mentors.

"Are there any leads into the money missing from those Internet accounts?"

"No Rick, we've had our best tech guys on the case and they can't figure it out. The money just seems to vanish, without even the hint of a trail to what account it ends up in. It's like the computers are stealing the money themselves," Carmelita replied.

"Maybe we should have my tech guy look at it, huh, querera?"

"No Sly, I know how busy he is and I don't want to bother him with something I'm sure our force can handle."

"Man, do you guys talk about anything else than work anymore? I mean, this is as boring as when you were discussing the 'syndication' or whatever they call themselves."

Sadie vented, tired of being ignored every time Rick came over her house. She was used to Rick ignoring her, but not her parents.

"It's the 'Syndicate', Sadie, and it's a very interesting case, even if there is nothing to go by," Rick corrected her.

"Who cares? I'm just surprised you even remembered my name," Sadie said, as the sixteen-year-old left the kitchen in a huff.

"What's with her?" Rick asked his friends, not aware of what they obviously saw. Sadie still had an enormous crush on him.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine Rick," Carmelita assured him.

"That's good, but what _do_ you guys think about this Syndicate case?"

"Well, Interpol has been working on it for about a year and we've gotten nowhere. From the little knowledge we have, it seems to be an extremely secret criminal organization that boasts members from six continents and the members are thought to be rather prominent public figures, which is why we're having a hard time finding their criminal activities mixed in with their legitimate businesses," Carmelita explained.

"Any leads?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, but our boards are covered with possible suspects. We have a who's who of known criminal bosses, suspected bosses, well known public figures accused of criminal activity, well known public figures suspected of criminal activity and even just shady-seeming famous and public figures. All we have though is a picture album of the underworld's most famous, though we don't even know if some of these suspects have any criminal connections, so we can't pursue anything……"


	12. Looking Familiar

At nineteen, Tonya was an extremely busy young woman. Besides helping out in her father's garage, she went to community college, more her dad's wish than her own, but she was doing fairly well in her studies. She also took kickboxing lessons and joined the wrestling club: the girl was still tall and rather slender, but she did have a somewhat muscular build (though not 'freaky' muscular). She had always been extremely strong for her size, probably due to her species. Tonya was also starting in the family hobby: she was the only woman in the local racing circuit and she was doing well, not as good as her dad, but she was still starting out (her dad wasn't too sure about the racing at first, no matter how tough she was, she was still his little girl, but he supported her nonetheless). Tonya had turned out to be a strong independent woman and she owed all that to the love and support from her 'pops'.

By fifteen, the twins had completed their high school coursework and were starting to take some college level courses. They were extremely smart and pretty well rounded, though they tended to be more interested in more 'geeky' subjects such as video games, tech clubs, etc. They both seemed to be taking after their parents as well. Their hacking skills were exceptional for their age: they would continually try to challenge each other, with each one working separately on the same problem/hacking job to see who would finish first. This proved to be a little troublesome for their parents, since they had to keep creating newer defenses for their more 'private' files to keep the twins out. This dynamic duo also had a good handle on RC technology as well: they had built and controlled numerous remote controlled robots, planes, cars, etc. in many local, state, as well as national competitions and did rather well for teenagers (their greatest achievement was competing in a robot battle television show and making it to the semi-finals, they had been the youngest team in the competition and were given the nickname, 'the wonder twins' by the announcers, which they preferred over the one their cousins gave them).

At seventeen, Sadie was finishing up high school and was getting ready to see where her life would take her. As her parents promised, they allowed her to figure out what she wanted to do by herself, though Sadie felt that she could have used the advice. Sadie really wasn't sure of what path she wanted to take after her eighteenth birthday, she had a hard time talking to her cousins about this since they all seemed to have their lives figured out (they were even all taking college courses and Ben and Chelsea were younger than her!). The main problem for Sadie was that she wasn't too passionate about any of the choices she thought she had: college just seemed so conventional to her, she didn't think that she wanted to do anything that needed a degree and she felt that college was something _everyone_ did. Sadie still loved gymnastics and she was good at it due to her parents' training, but she didn't have the drive to go professional. Besides, she was way older than most of the members of the Olympic teams. Sadie felt her best bet was law enforcement: she did enjoy it, but her passion for it seemed to dwindle a little due to the fact that she lived around it her whole life. The one good thing about the upcoming summer was that her parents were planning a family vacation and allowed her to choose where they would go, since she was graduating from high school and it looked like it would be their last family vacation for a while. Sadie had a good idea of where she wanted to go and felt that she might get a better idea of if she really liked law enforcement if her plans worked and she got to do what she really wanted to do on her vacation….

Now twenty, Rick Fuentes was earning a very good reputation within Interpol. The young fox had worked extremely hard ever since he passed his qualifiers almost two years ago and a lot of the officers were noting how Rick's arrest record was starting to match Carmelita's when she started out (luckily, he hadn't met any particular thieves that gave him a hard time…yet). Rick was pretty close to Carmelita and Sly since he considered them as his mentors and occasionally they asked his opinion on some of the tougher cases they were working on, like the Syndicate case.

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Yeah, it looked like everything was going well for Sly Cooper and his extended family, and that trouble had finally let the raccoon live his life in peace

…..though, some things don't ever seem to change……………..

Somewhere on the globe, a dark figure named Spectre looked at the video screens in front of him preparing to begin:

"Africa"

"Present and accounted for," said a deep, commanding voice.

"Asia"

"Hui," said a sharp, curt voice.

"Australia"

"G'day mate," said an earthy voice.

"Europe"

"Yah, we're both here." "Yah," said a pair of nonplussed voices.

"North America"

"Here, my good sir," said an elderly voice.

"South America"

"Aqui senhor," said a cold, feminine voice.

As each voice announced its presence, a dark shadow of its owner appeared on each screen before Spectre.

"Good, now let's get down to business," the frigid, metallic voice of Spectre answered to his comrades.


End file.
